MMP vs FFP
Its been less than 24hrs but already NZ Herald is inundated with stupid opinions in the 'Your Views' section. Now I realise that the NZ Herald is hardly a shinning light of intelligentsia but too many of those comments deomonstrate such a complete lack of understanding of the political system and ability to effectively interpret reality.
General concern/comment 1.
'Keep MMP but get rid of the list MPs.'
Perhaps these types of people are just incredibly stupid or maybe they have some incredibly awesome idea on how to count party votes {the core part of MMP} without a perty list.
General Concern/comment 2.
'MMP allowed the smacking bill to pass'
Later they can explain to me how a bill that pass with over 100 of the 120 MPs supporting can be construed as the hijacking of democratic process.
General concern/comment 3.
'MMP allows too many minority parties into government and results in too uch horsetrading'
Its clled democracy dumarse! Representation and compromise are the fundamentals of good governance and stability through legitmacy. For a bunch of people so concerned about radical agendas being pushed through parliment they seem awful keen to give absoulute power to one segment of the poltcal spectrum. perhaps also they would do well to realise that disenfracising vast segment of society isn't a good way to have a government that can exercise legitimate moral authority. "I didn't vote for you, why whould I listern to you!!"
In all of this I found one shinning light of reason. One post that ecellently listed the massive flaws in in FFP. To save time I've just copy-pasted it straight in.
In the 1978 and 1981 elections Labour outpolled National by about 1% in the popular vote but National ended up with over 50% of the seats in Parliament.
In 1981, 20% of NZers voted for Social Credit but it ended up with only one seat.
In 1984, around 20% voted either for Social Credit of the NZ Party but this 20% translated into only two seats for Social Credit.
In 1987, Labour got 48% of the popular vote yet won a huge majority. This was reversed in 1990 where National won 47.8% of the popular vote but won a gigantic majority.
In 1993, 27% of NZers voted either for the Alliance of NZ`First yet the votes of over a quarter of Nzers resulted in these parties winning only four seats between them.
All of these statistics establish that FPP does not deliver fair or representative election outcomes. MMP delivers representation in Parliament that more accurately reflects the way the nation voted. It is not perfect but it better reflects our views than FPP ever could.
General concern/comment 1.
'Keep MMP but get rid of the list MPs.'
Perhaps these types of people are just incredibly stupid or maybe they have some incredibly awesome idea on how to count party votes {the core part of MMP} without a perty list.
General Concern/comment 2.
'MMP allowed the smacking bill to pass'
Later they can explain to me how a bill that pass with over 100 of the 120 MPs supporting can be construed as the hijacking of democratic process.
General concern/comment 3.
'MMP allows too many minority parties into government and results in too uch horsetrading'
Its clled democracy dumarse! Representation and compromise are the fundamentals of good governance and stability through legitmacy. For a bunch of people so concerned about radical agendas being pushed through parliment they seem awful keen to give absoulute power to one segment of the poltcal spectrum. perhaps also they would do well to realise that disenfracising vast segment of society isn't a good way to have a government that can exercise legitimate moral authority. "I didn't vote for you, why whould I listern to you!!"
In all of this I found one shinning light of reason. One post that ecellently listed the massive flaws in in FFP. To save time I've just copy-pasted it straight in.
In the 1978 and 1981 elections Labour outpolled National by about 1% in the popular vote but National ended up with over 50% of the seats in Parliament.
In 1981, 20% of NZers voted for Social Credit but it ended up with only one seat.
In 1984, around 20% voted either for Social Credit of the NZ Party but this 20% translated into only two seats for Social Credit.
In 1987, Labour got 48% of the popular vote yet won a huge majority. This was reversed in 1990 where National won 47.8% of the popular vote but won a gigantic majority.
In 1993, 27% of NZers voted either for the Alliance of NZ`First yet the votes of over a quarter of Nzers resulted in these parties winning only four seats between them.
All of these statistics establish that FPP does not deliver fair or representative election outcomes. MMP delivers representation in Parliament that more accurately reflects the way the nation voted. It is not perfect but it better reflects our views than FPP ever could.