BCSTV (an instant runoff based voting method) went down in flames in the 2009 referendum.
Suggestions as to why have included the wording on the ballot changing, ignorance, and complexity.
Only the ballot wording helps explain why support slipped so much from 2005, but I don't think it can fully account for the massive 58% to 39% support drop.
I believe that the real reason for the lack of support this time around is due to the improved fortunes of the NDP. In the 2005 election the NDP was recovering from the destruction of 2001 where they got some 40% of the popular vote but only took 3% of the seats. In other words, NDP supporters were considering the NDP to be a third party that would massively benefit from STV.
This time, however, the NDP was in the position of a strong opposition. NDP supporters no doubt looked at how much of their support might be bled off by the Greens under BCSTV and decided proportional representation wasn't so important after all.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Why BCSTV Lost
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2 comments:
I'm going to suggest two other explanations.
First, as hinted at in the second article you linked to, many people might not have liked the idea of a coalition government. When the Liberals and NDP were talking about a coalition (with Bloc support) last year, the Tories found a lot of support for the claim that this was somehow a perversion of the democratic system. Perhaps December's threat of a coalition turned people against STV.
Second, people might actually have preferred FPTP to STV. It's worth noting that your first two links put the loss down to "enough people voting on an issue they know nothing about" or "ignorance". If ill-informed voters were keeping STV from winning, then you'd expect that when voter participation dropped from 62% to 48%, as it did this year, then support would rise as only the most dedicated, and hence informed, voters voted. Instead, support dropped.
I'd like to see STV or PR, but, as with the Iraq war or Bush v Kerry, it's worth remembering that, even if you're right, it's probably false to say that everyone who disagrees with you is simply stupid.
I'm not sure that people were upset about coalition governments in general, so much as they were about coalitions with the Bloc in particular.
My anecdotal experience is that ill-informed voters are fairly distrustful of change to the electoral system, so I find it hard to believe they were the ones propping up STV the first time around (and I agree that they were probably the voters who stayed home this time). That being said, I have also talked to very well informed people who felt strongly about FPTP being the better system.
For what it's worth, I voted against STV in 2005 because of the complexity, and then for it in 2009 because I decided the proportional representation made it worth it.
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