On 8/18/08, Kristofer Munsterhjelm <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > That sounds like MMP. I think MMP can work if done right (with STV instead > of FPTP as base, and reweighting to avoid lista civetta). Using party list > here is probably better than the party-neutral version where you'd rank > representatives for local, regional, and national levels, and then it keeps > the reweighting at each stage; simply because there would be an immense > number of candidates at the national level, and ranking them all would be > Herculean.
It is different to MMP as it only counts votes which don't elect someone locally. In the MMP situation, it would be like having a rule that only votes which don't vote for the local winner count for working out proportionality at the national level. (Though this is inexact as in single seaters, the 'quota' would be nearly 100% of the local votes cast, so nobody would be elected locally). One possible issue is that voters would just vote for their party's local candidates and then for their party's national list, i.e. it would greatyly decrease the importance of cross party transfers. This would eliminate the need for partys to be civil to each other as it reduces the need to avoid alienating the supporters of other parties. There would be little need for voting pacts and the like. OTOH, it is likely that things like personal votes would still matter for the local stage. Also, it would be giving voters what they want. I think parties would allow freedom for their candidates when setting lists, as long as they rank all party members before non-party members. For example, a candidate might rank candidates from nearby constituencies before ones that are far away. Alternatively, they might rank members who are in the same wing of the party near the top. It could work like: - before the election each candidate submits their list ranking any other candidates (they aren't allowed rank local candidates here). - PR-STV is run at the local level as normal, except Exhausted ballots remain with the last candidate to hold the vote (or perhaps the voter directly selects who the ballot goes to). The quota is the same nationwide - Once local counts are completed, national level PR-STV fills the remaining seats The votes that each candidate retains at the end (i.e. exhausted ballots) are cast for their candidate list at the national level. A voter who supports a small party might just vote for that party's candidate as first choice. when the candidate is eliminated, the candidate would continue to hold the vote and it would be cast for the party's list in the national level PR-STV. This would allow small/distributed parties to get people elected. ---- Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info
