Quoting russell@coker.com.au (russell@coker.com.au):
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.
Indeed. (I used to live there, by the way.)
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.
At least there's this much: I hear there's less gerrymandering with the notable exception of NI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering#United_Kingdom
The House of Lords in the UK is a horrible thing with life peers and church representatives.
The House of Lords is the _least_ of their electoral problems, I would think: The particular implementation of voting there has lately given abysmal proportionality. CGP Grey has a good video detailing the distortions. By no means do all Westminster-derived Parliaments have that severe a problem. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9rGX91rq5I (FWIW, Grey lives in London, and is a dual-citizen of the Republic of Ireland and the USA.) The Lords is of course an anancronism, _but_ in the modern era has almost no power (and it's been clear for quite some time that if it significantly impeded the Commons, even that would be taken away). In any event, as it turns out, the UK is a pretty wretched example of the Westminster _system_. Ironic, eh?
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).
Interesting. The Israeli Knesset is a unicameral parliament in which all 120 seats are elected nationwide at-large (not by district). Thus, it is an extreme example of proportionality -- which comes with its own set of problems. E.g., if one of the major blocs is attempting to build a governing coalition and has reached, say, 59 or 60 votes, small 1-2 member parties suddenly are in a position to ask for disproportionate favours, as their allegiance can make or break a government.
Thanks for the long post.
Yr. very welcome, Russell. I hope it was enlightening.