Canada, England Struggle with Electoral Systems

After a contentious six-week campaign, Canadians went back to the polls Monday to elect a federal government. The reigning Conservative minority had been ousted by a lack of confidence vote in Parliament, forcing voters back to the polls for the fourth time in seven years. This time, the Conservatives emerged with a majority government, winning 167 seats out of 308. It seems reasonable to say that the Conservatives had the majority of the votes. But that is not the case.

The Cons won a majority victory with less than 40 percent of all of the votes cast. That means that 60 percent -- the majority of voters -- did not vote for them. This method of voting is called First Past the Post (FPTP). It only matters who gains the most votes in the election without having to gain a majority of the votes. This system of voting is prevalent in the Commonwealth realm but, in the past several years, has come under scrutiny as being not representative of the will of the majority of voters.

This week, the United Kingdom goes to the polls in a referendum to determine whether changes should be made in the way Parliament is elected. The proposed system has been touted as fairer and more representative of voters' actual wants. It works like this: Voters rank the candidates in the order they wish to vote for them. If, after the first vote, there is no candidate who has won the majority of votes, the bottom candidate drops off and the votes cast for that candidate are transferred to each voter's second-choice candidate. This process continues until one candidate emerges with the majority of the votes.

The proposed UK model solves the problem that plagued the Canadian election where the votes on the left were split between the Liberals and the NDP. More voters wanted a left-leaning government than did not. However, with the split in votes, the right-wing Conservatives cleaned up.

The alternative system of voting being discussed unofficially in Canada is proportional representation. This system elects seats in the House of Commons in proportion to the number of votes cast for each party. Fringe parties which have some support but not enough clout under the current rules to win a riding would have a voice in Parliament, representing those who voted for them.

While there has been intermittent talk of changing the system of voting in Canada , there has been no official push. Now that the Conservatives have a majority government under the existing system, it is unlikely that alternative systems will be pursued. If proportional representation had been used in the 2011 election, the Conservatives would have been held to a minority government once again, allowing more input from the opposition.