Performance of the Electoral System in Recent Canadian and British Elections: Advancing the Case for Electoral Reform

Abstract

Canada, India, New Zealand and of course the U.K. itself are among the relatively few democratic countries of the world which continue to employ the Single Member District (SMD), First Past the Post (FPTP) system of elections exclusively and in undiluted form. Once considered the model for the conduct of democratic elections, the inadequacies of the British method of elections have become increasingly evident in recent years, particularly in countries where questions of representation are complex ones and/or where the ability of established political institutions to survive periods of considerable stress may depend in part on the perceived legitimacy of the electoral system. While many countries have adapted both of the SMD or FPTP principles to their needs, or have abandoned the concepts altogether in favour of a system based on Proportional Representation (PR), Canada is one country which has throughout its history resisted any change in its national electoral system. This attachment to its British political traditions has been a costly one, as problems of representation have tended to compound many of the linguistic and regional stresses of the Canadian federation.