Electoral system
Sir, — Your blinkered suspicion of electoral reform (August 25) is unworthy of “The Press.” To suggest that a voting system which accurately reflects voters’ preferences will produce unstable government is to ally yourself with tyrants everywhere, and to ignore virtually every other democracy. You also imply that New Zealanders are too simple-minded to cope with voting procedures considered normal elsewhere. Possibly, but if they can salvage valid votes from the present chaotic system (and a surprising number can) they should manage to write “one, two, three . . . ,” which is all that proportional representation requires. The most obvious deficiency of the average voter is his continued tolerance of a system which ensures that most of his representatives are chosen in secret by party cliques — with Parliamentary consequences which are painfully
obvious. — Yours, etc., S. O. MAHONY. August 26, 1979.
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Press, 28 August 1979, Page 16
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139Electoral system Press, 28 August 1979, Page 16
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