VOTING SYSTEMS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 234, 31 August 1935, Page 6

VOTING SYSTEMS.

Holding that it would be improper to amend the electoral laws to provide for preferential voting at the general election this year —“as it would mean that the people would be called upon to vote under a system with which they are not acquainted”—the Prime Minister has announced the Government’s intention to seek the electors’ verdict under the present method of election. 'There is much to be said -for the Prime Minister’s view that were an alteration to be made, much as it is desired in some quarters, it would cause a great deal of confusion among the people. The “first past the post” system has been in use here for twenty-two years. It applies to Parliamentary and local body elections, and is the same as that in general use in Great Britain and many other countries. No matter how many candidates stand for a single seat, the one candidate who tops the list, even if his majority is of the slightest, is elected. As the unsuccessful candidates may poll between them more than 50 per cent, of the votes cast, the majority may be unrepresented. That is the chief point stressed by those who seek electoral reform. In pre-war days New Zealand had a brief experience of the second ballot, which is still in operation in France and some other European countries. Under this system, in any constituency where there were more than two candidates and the one successful at the first ballot did not poll more than 50 per cent, of the total votes cast, a second ballot was held a week later between the two candidates at the top of the list. This system was introduced by the Ward Government and was in use for two general elections in 1908 and 1911. It was repealed by the Massey Government in 1913, the compluint against it being that the holding of two elections and two election campaigns did not make for satisfactory politics. In France, where the second ballot still obtains, its faults are stressed in that the period between the two ballots is often employed for unsavoury intrigues. In Australia there has been . developed the system of the alternative vote, also known as preferential voting. There is only one ballot, but the voter, instead of marking his choice with a cross, marks the candidates in the order of his preference. The returning officer eliminates the bottom candidates in turn, distributing among the top candidates the preferences marked on the eliminated ballots. There is still another method of election, known as proportional representation, which is designed chiefly to provide for the adequate representation of minorities. This system is in vogue in Germany, where it has met with much adverse criticism, its aims not being realised under the present conditions in that country.