2011-07-06
post/7294368813
quote 06:53:40
“ Canada is the supreme example of how first past the post can explode into madness when it has to cope with more than two contending parties. In Quebec, the Bloc Québécois got nearly 24 per cent of the votes but only 5.3 per cent of the seats. In Saskatchewan, the NDP won almost a third of the vote – and no seats at all. That’s the insult to democracy the British swallowed on 5 May. ”
Neal Ascherson in the Wolves in the Drawing Room (subscribers only), from the LRB, vol 33 issue 11.
The article is mainly about Scotland and its recent election, but this quote about Canada and first past the post was too good to pass up.
