Is First Past the Post on its way out in Canada?Around the world, countries that inherited a Westminster style of government from their former colonial rulers have been, one by one, democratising and reforming their systems. Australia and New Zealand, for instance, led the way...Posted 18 Oct 2018
Slovenia had an election, but who actually won?“Slovenian nationalist party wins parliamentary election” declares the Guardian. “Anti-immigration party wins Slovenia elections” says CNBC. “Anti-immigrant party wins divisive Slovenian election as coalition talks set to begin” says the Telegraph. The Slovenian Democratic Party...Posted 05 Jun 2018
Citizens in British Columbia are set to decide on their voting system. Here is what you should know…Back in May 2017 I brought you the story of the British Columbian general election which had seen no party get half the seats in the Legislative Assembly of Canada’s Westernmost province, leading to a...Posted 01 Jun 2018
The birth of Hungary’s Franken-voting systemThe three-time two-thirds majority winning political party Fidesz has been able to reshape Hungary’s political institutions because of the 2010 election, in which it won 53% of the vote, and won its first two-thirds majority....Posted 13 Apr 2018
Just how popular is Hungary’s Fidesz?Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party has dominated Hungarian politics since 2010. On Sunday, its dominance was confirmed, as it won its third two-thirds majority in a row, winning 134 of 199 seats. In most European countries,...Posted 12 Apr 2018
New Zealand election: Citizens make the most of fair votesSaturday saw New Zealand go to the polls for its eighth election since they ditched the broken first past the post system and adopted Mixed-Member Proportional representation (MMP) in 1993. Mixed-Member Proportional is a variant...Posted 27 Sep 2017
Electoral reform returns to the agenda in British ColumbiaBritish Columbia, Canada’s most Western province, has often been the site of electoral reform intrigue. In the run-up to the 1952 provincial election the Conservative and Liberal parties tried to stop the socialist Co-operative Commonwealth...Posted 18 May 2017
Fighting for fair votes around the world – lessons from the Global Greens CongressProportional representation has been a longstanding campaign of the Greens. But not just here in the UK – democratic reform is often a key plank of Green platforms. So it was fascinating to see leaders...Posted 07 Apr 2017
How PR ‘completely transformed’ New Zealand politics: Metiria Turei, Green Party co-leaderIn 1996, New Zealand introduced the Mixed Member Proportion (MMP) voting system – a mixed FPTP and proportional list voting system. It was a big step forward for the fight for fair votes everywhere. I...Posted 06 Apr 2017
How will the 2017 French presidential election work?After last year’s political whirlwind, attention has turned to 2017’s elections for evidence of further shocks. Voters are going to the polls in the Netherlands, in Germany but most attention is focused on France, whose...Posted 13 Jan 2017