In the standard peer assembly election method, the only way to kick the incumbent government out of office is to give the opposition parties control of the legislature.
This means that there is resistance to kicking out corrupt/lazy incumbents as it could shift the balance to parties that would be (in the opinion of the voter) even worse. This reduces the effectiveness of the voters ability to vote against ineffective incumbents. What about something like the following: 2 Houses elected in the same manner Election to 1 house renders the person ineligible to ever become a member of the other house. At a given time 1 of the 2 Houses is considered primary. Every few years (say 4) the people vote on which house should be primary. If the Primary House doesn't get 50% + then the Houses switch status. The Primary House would have to be in some way more powerful than the Secondary. For example, there could be a way to call a join session to pass legislation that the secondary house has delayed by more than a year with members of the primary house getting 2 votes. The parties could run candidates in both houses meaning that the voters could be just picking between two identical choices. I think that the rule preventing people standing for both houses would lead to some separation of leadership between the two branches of the same party. Also, if one house tends to keep wining, key new party members would stand in the house where there power is. This would weaken the party in the secondary house meaning that it would have less seats there. Hopefully, this would lead to a different mix of parties in both houses. Parties could try to spoiler the 2nd house in some way. For example, they may not support a compromise candidate for Speaker who could challenge their candidate in the other House when the public choose the primary house. I think that the rule preventing people switching houses would mean that this would lead to some resentment from the party members of the house that is being sabotaged. Anyway, the objective is to give the voters the choice between two governments that are both representative rather than having to put people you dislike into power to teach the party with policies you support a lesson. ___________________________________________________ Try the New Netscape Mail Today! Virtually Spam-Free | More Storage | Import Your Contact List http://mail.netscape.com ---- election-methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info
