U.K. elections

Press, 27 June 1983, Page 18

U.K. elections

Sir,—what does J. F. Garvey (June 22) mean by “stable government”? — A one-party government elected by a minority of the total electorate voters; a dictatorship; or a multi-party government proportionally representing the absolute majority? A stable society is the objective and there are far more of these using proportional representation in Western democratic societies than use our unfair electoral method. All the ingredients that make for unstable societies reside in electoral methods that exclude majority voter participation in government. Why should 60 per cent of the people consistently be denied the government of their choice? Why should anyone, even socialists, be excluded from being proportionally represented in the affairs of their country? Such are the opportunities offered by proportional representation electoral methods that any people deserving of them can use titese democratic libertar-

ian mechanisms as a tool to rid the country of all those confrontative anomalies our method of election inflicts upon us. France does not elect its government by proportional representation. As for the Weimar minority chestnut .. .?— Yours, etc., L. J. ROBINSON. June 22, 1983.