At 16:01 11/04/2011 +0100, Paul Bivand wrote:
>to decide exactly what one would hope that the voting system would achieve
>- that sounds to me like a rather simple question.
>A voting system should ensure that the MPs elected are representative.
That obviously begs a question, but you have kindly gone on answer it ....
>Representative means having the active support or, secondarily, assent of
>the majority of voters.
The 'assent' part of that makes things less than straightforward, and I
think there is a risk that AV can result in 'cosmetic assent'. Many people
who really only want to give their support to one candidate might feel
obliged to offer other choices with AV, thereby creating the appearance of
true (and desired) assent.
A person who believes in 'PR' would presumably say that the outcome of an
AV election is in no way 'representative', in that it may well not reflect
the true (first choice) wishes of a high proportion of the voters. I
therefore don't think that the situation (or my question) is anything like
as simple as you suggest!
Kind Regards,
John
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