Is first-past-the-post voting the solution?
Some have blamed the preferential voting system for the Nationals’ minority victory and advocate a return to first-past-the-post. This will do nothing to alleviate the problem. In Britain, it has led to a system where “a party receives only 43% of the votes cast, yet is rewarded with a number of seats sufficient to ensure that its will is imposed on the assembly, despite the fact that its policies are bitterly unpopular, even with many of its own members.” [11] As a recent example, the parties opposing the poll tax (Labour, Liberal, Social Democrat, Scottish Nationalist, and others) represent 55% of the voters; yet they are powerless to prevent the Thatcher Government from pushing the controversial new tax through Parliament (against the wishes of many of its own supporters). As a result, opponents of the tax have resorted to street-fighting in protest.
