THE ALTERNATIVE VOTE.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 167, 15 July 1919, Page 7

THE ALTERNATIVE VOTE.

I (To the Editor.) I Sir, —The next general election will be of vital importance to the Dominion. It j will, 1 think, be generally agreed that the country will benefit if a fair field is given to all candidates, no matter what ,'their party, and also that we should 'avoid the return of a member by a I minority vote owing to the splitting of | votes. Tbe old first past the post system, I again in vogue nfter the abolition of the 'second ballot, is clearly unsatisfactory in that it may result in the return of a I candidate by the vote of the minority of (the electors. Public opinion has not yet | been adequately converted to proportional representation. The National Government, however, would do well —in the ', interest. Of the country nnd for tbe purpose of assuring the electors proper representation—to introduce legislation this session adopting the alternative I vote, a system that should have the support of. Parliament. This method applies Ito single member constituencies. The elector marks his preference of candi- ! dates in their order by writing 1, 2, 3, or higher number, according to the number of candidates, against the names of the j various candidates. All the first preferences are first counted, and if a candidate secures an actual majority he is, of ' course, elected. Where no candidate , secures an actual majority of the votes polled, the second preferences of the candidate at the bottom of the poll are distributed among the remaining candidates, and if this fails to give anyone an actual majority, then the second prer'er'ences of the next lowest on the poll are distributed, and in the end one candidate 'receives an actual majority of half the 'votes cast, plus one, and is returned as the member. This plan, agreed to by majorities in the Speakers' Conference on Electoral Reform, led. to a party contest in tho I British Parliament, and was rejected owing to party strategy, the Conservajtive party voting almost unanimously fov | its rejection, as in cases in which Liberal, Labour, and Conservative candidates stood for a single seat its adoption "promised to prevent tbe frequent return of that has happened in such cases." I We have bad enouah of the party game [here. It is time that the interests of .the country as a whole should be considered before those of any particular I party, and a system of voting adopted based on fair and democratic principles that will give true representation to the will of the people.—l am, etc., H. F. YON HAAST. Wellington.