As B.C.’s attorney general laid out the questions voters will be asked during this fall’s referendum on electoral reform, opponents of proportional representation warned of hung parliaments and the rise of extremist fringe parties.
David Eby recommended that voters be asked two questions to determine whether they favour proportional representation to elect members of the legislature, a system in which each party is awarded seats based on its percentage of the popular vote.
First, voters would be asked if they support ditching the first-past-the-post system, which critics say is an unfair winner-take-all model that awards seats even if the candidate did not win an absolute majority.
Second, voters would be asked to rank three proportional representation systems: dual member proportional, mixed member proportional, and rural-urban proportional representation. If the majority of voters support a change in the status quo, the system with the greatest support would be implemented.
If the province does switch to proportional representation, a second referendum will take place after two election cycles so that citizens can confirm they’re happy with their decision, Eby said at a press conference Wednesday.
Liberal Leader Andrew Wilkinson said the government has put forward a confusing “alphabet soup” of proportional representation systems that no one has heard of in an attempt to manipulate British Columbians.
“Today we’ve seen an NDP announcement that they’re stacking the deck in a rigged game. They’re playing games with voters to keep the Green Party happy and this is not the way to run a democracy.”
Wilkinson was critical of the fact that voters will go into the referendum without any maps to show how their local riding will be redrawn.
“Now they are going to say to us don’t worry about what it looks like in your hometown or community, it will sort itself out,” said Wilkinson. “No need for maps, no need for clarity, we won’t tell you who your MLA could be.”
Eby said if proportional representation is supported, an independent electoral boundary commission will re-draw the ridings.
Sonia Furstenau, Green Party MLA for Cowichan Valley, said the B.C. Greens favour electoral reform and want to see a system where people vote for the party they want, not strategically against the party they don’t want.
“We have a problem we need to solve because currently under first-past-the-post, 39 per cent of the vote can deliver 100 per cent of power to one party,” Furstenau said. “That party can then proceed to act on a mandate for four years without input from any other party, which leaves 60 per cent of people feeling unrepresented by the governing party.”
Bill Tieleman, speaking for the No B.C. Proportional Representation Society, said proportional representation has led to hung parliaments, awkward coalitions, and the rise of extremist fringe parties across Europe.
To prevent the rise of fringe parties, Eby said a political party with less than five per cent of the overall vote will not gain a seat in the legislature.
Maria Dobrinskaya, spokesperson for Vote PR B.C., said the advocacy group is not taking a position on which of the three proportional representation models is best but will encourage people to vote in favour of electoral reform.
Dobrinskaya said while electoral reform is a complex issue, she’s talked to people who have reluctantly voted strategically for the “least worst” option instead of the party of their choice and to residents in rural B.C. who feel they are not represented by government.
If voters support electoral reform, the government will introduce legislation to implement proportional representation in time for the next election in 2021.
Under a new system, the number of MLAs could increase from the current 87 but Eby said the maximum number of seats would be 95.
The referendum campaign runs July 1 to Nov. 30. The referendum period runs from Oct. 22 to Nov. 30 through mail-in ballots, which Eby said is shown to have higher voter turnout than ballot box voting.
Elections B.C. will be responsible for providing neutral information about the referendum, including an explanation of the different voting systems being considered.
The electoral officer will designate one official group to advocate for keeping the current voting system and another group to champion proportional representation. Each of those groups will receive $500,000 in public funding for their campaign and also have the ability to fundraise.
Eby’s recommendations follow a 14-week public engagement campaign which drew 180,000 visitors to the How We Vote website. Just over 91,000 people completed questionnaires.
The three proportional representation systems voters will be asked to rank are:
— Dual-member proportional would take most of the province’s existing single-member electoral districts and amalgamate them with a second neighbouring district to create two-member districts. The largest rural districts could remain unchanged as single-member districts. Parties could nominate up to two candidates in each district. They would appear on the ballot in an order determined by the party. The first seats would be won by the first candidates of the party that received the most votes in each electoral district. The second seats would be allocated based on provincewide voting results and individual district results.
— A mixed-member system would combine single-member electoral districts, where members are elected under first past the post, with seats also allocated on a regional or provincial level and based on a list of candidates running for proportional representation seats prepared by the parties.
— A rural-urban option is also a mixed system that elects members of the legislature two ways. In urban and semi-urban areas, a single transferable vote would be used to rank candidates by preference. In rural areas, single-member electoral districts would elect their representative using the first-past-the-post system, while a small number of proportional representation seats would also be allocated from a list prepared by the parties based on election results.
— With files from the Canadian Press
- - -
Here are questions Attorney General David Eby has recommended to cabinet for a referendum this fall on British Columbia’s electoral system:
1. Which should British Columbia use for elections to the legislative assembly (vote for only one):
— The current first-past-the post voting system.
— A proportional representation voting system.
2. If British Columbia adopts a proportional representation voting system, which of the following voting systems do you prefer? (Vote for the voting systems you wish to support by ranking them in order of preference. You may choose to support one, two or all three of the systems):
— Dual-member proportional.
— Mixed-member proportional.
— Rural-urban.
