On Wednesday, 7 September 2016 3:39:43 PM AEST Rick Moen via luv-talk wrote:
The Republicans (AKA 'GOP' = Grand Old Party) have a recurring nightmare of shutout nationwide. Unlike with the Westminster system, shutout is possible: If your party consistently gets 40% of the vote everywhere, you will have zero elected offices.
The Westminster system doesn't require the Australian Ballot or any other voting system. The UK has first past the post for parliament which drives voters to support 1 of 2 parties thus driving out small parties. This combined with voting for a single candidate in the electorate means that a party with 40% support everywhere will get no seats in parliament. The House of Lords in the UK is a horrible thing with life peers and church representatives. It would take some time to determine how many people need to vote for a party before they can't be shut out. But if the life peers and the Church of England disagree with a party then they would need much more than 50% of the votes to get any representation that matters. A party in the UK that consistently gets 40% of the votes and isn't right-wing is going to get nothing. I believe that there are some countries who's lower house has a system vaguely similar to the Australian senate (multiple candidates for a district and the outcome determined proportionally). To really avoid a party being locked out you need something like the Australian senate voting. Of course that means you get some numtpties like the "Motoring Enthusiasts Party" guy and it's easier for horrible people like Pauline Hanson (our Sarah Palin) to get in. Thanks for the long post. -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/