EXPLAINING AN ELECTORAL DEADLOCK.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17219, 10 December 1923, Page 6

EXPLAINING AN ELECTORAL DEADLOCK.

In its anxiety to explain away the electoral deadlock that has occurred at Home under the old electoral system, the morning Reform journal puts forward the feeble argument that the deadlock is “ only an accident and the first time that the existing electoral machinery has led to the failure, of any party to obtain a majority.” The inference that the unsuspecting public are to draw from this assurance, of course, is that the “ accident ” is not likely to happen again under the good old system. But the whole case rests on the permanent entry into politics of a third party, and as the. electors of Great Britain appear to have decided to split themselves up, on this occasion, into three distinct parties, of about equal voting strength, it is nonsense to talk of an accidental result. As a matter of fact the worst electoral accident of all time happened at the. previous election, when the Conservatives secured an actual working majority in the House on a minority vote in the country. It can easily be demonstrated that a Parliamenlary reflex of the voting strength of a country can be secured only by accident under the old electoral system, and it is not surprising to learn that such an accident has not happened on the present occasion. The cablegrams received this morning giving the voting strength of the three parties show that the Conservatives have again secured far more seats than they are entitled to. The average man can figure it out just as simply as he would figure out a totalisator dividend. Here are the figures:—

So long as there are three parties there will be threecornered fights, which wall lend themselves to jerrymandering and other forms of political trickery. Up till now, tile Conservatives have profited by these electoral stratagems, and it is natural that they should cling to the old system; but what the majority of the people want is a system that will give every vote or group of votes its true value, and proportional representation is the only system that can do iL

Votes. Actual Seats. R« True Conservatives .. , . 5,417,094 259 227 Labour .. 4.477,617 187 188 Liberal ,. 4,254,556 1 18 178