Why is everyone concerned about the nasty parties getting a few trifling seats? Everywhere I look at this issue there are people decrying PR because it would give the BNP 12.5 (I think that's the figure quoted most often) seats in Parliament.
So what? 12/13 seats is nothing. Sure, sometimes a vote might be won because the BNP were to support the government where the government lost the support of its own backbench, but in such a situation you'd have ample indication that it was the Wrong Thing to do - the BNP support was what got it through.
People DESERVE the representation they vote for. If they vote BNP they deserve BNP, no matter how unsavoury you find their policies. There would almost certainly be fewer BNP voters if there was actually the probability of them winning anything. Your 'protest voters' would dry up very quickly if their protest resulted in someone actually being granted a seat.
The current system is broken. Seriously, and fundamentally, broken. People vote for who they don't want in many, many areas because of the 'two horse race' mentality that comes with SMSP electoral systems makes them vote for the lesser of two evils. In PR they could vote for who they wanted and be rewarded with some representation of their views. The best way to get people away from nasty parties is to give those parties enough rope to hang themselves with, not to ban them.
no subject
So what? 12/13 seats is nothing. Sure, sometimes a vote might be won because the BNP were to support the government where the government lost the support of its own backbench, but in such a situation you'd have ample indication that it was the Wrong Thing to do - the BNP support was what got it through.
People DESERVE the representation they vote for. If they vote BNP they deserve BNP, no matter how unsavoury you find their policies. There would almost certainly be fewer BNP voters if there was actually the probability of them winning anything. Your 'protest voters' would dry up very quickly if their protest resulted in someone actually being granted a seat.
The current system is broken. Seriously, and fundamentally, broken. People vote for who they don't want in many, many areas because of the 'two horse race' mentality that comes with SMSP electoral systems makes them vote for the lesser of two evils. In PR they could vote for who they wanted and be rewarded with some representation of their views. The best way to get people away from nasty parties is to give those parties enough rope to hang themselves with, not to ban them.