[pp.int.general] A Pirate Position on First past the post vs representative voting

[Marko Mitrovic]

*are smaller than

On Tue, May 22, 2012 at 4:31 PM, Marko Mitrovic <
marko.mitrovic at piratskapartija.com> wrote:

> Yes, of course. I only pointed out that it *is *in our best interest
> anyway, on top of the fact that system is simply better(in my opinion at
> least).
>
> Living in a country where proportional system is in place since fall of
> communists, it is only natural to me. There are some downsides like small
> parties with only goal to get few seats here and there that are only
> wasting space or relative danger of letting extremist parties in
> parliament, like Golden Dawn in Greece. Also, elected representatives in
> practice don't owe loyalty to voters but to their parties.
>
> However, all those possible downsides are smaller that biggest flaw of
> first past the post and similar systems - creation of
> bipartisan/tripartisan political scene.
>
> It might be hard to win bigger parties over as it is clearly in their *political
> interest* for system to remain the same and flaws proportional system can
> be easily found in their eyes.
>
> I think we should be aiming at diversity and ability for new fresh ideas
> to break through that proportional system offers. It is also far more
> dynamic.
>
>
> On Tue, May 22, 2012 at 4:17 PM, Justus Römeth <squig at dfpx.de> wrote:
>
>> Yeah, of course I meant proportional, sorry about that.
>>
>> The thing is, I thought we wanted to do what is good for our societies,
>> and develop our policies from there. If we only wanted to do what is best
>> for us (personally or our party) we would want to gain 50% of the vote and
>> then introduce FPTP everywhere, to promote stability and our world-view. I
>> think if we genuinely want to argue that a proportional system is better we
>> need to develop positions as to why it is better, hopefully with arguments
>> that are theoretically strong enough to even win some people within the
>> bigger parties over (as it is their current supporters we need to win over
>> in order to really have an impact). That was the direction I was trying to
>> aim with my Email.
>>
>>
>> On Tue, May 22, 2012 at 3:35 PM, Marko Mitrovic <
>> marko.mitrovic at piratskapartija.com> wrote:
>>
>>> By representative you mean proportional system, right?
>>>
>>> Well, from political point of view it is only logical that we favor
>>> proportional system as we are new emerging party and would find very hard
>>> to break into first past the post system any time soon. Proportional system
>>> is also more democratic as it makes possible for smaller parties to be
>>> represented in parliament. And proportional system would make it easier to
>>> shift to some more direct-democracy-ish system in the future.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tue, May 22, 2012 at 3:16 PM, Justus Römeth <roemeth at gmail.com>wrote:
>>>
>>>> Moin Pirates
>>>>
>>>> James O'Keefe, Captain of the Pirate Party of Massachusetts, stated in
>>>> his interview <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI-zueFMqSY> with Etopia
>>>> news that he thinks that representative voting systems are something he as
>>>> a Pirate would like to also see in the US. Is that something that is
>>>> mirrored by other parties with similar political systems, like PPFR, PPUK
>>>> or PPES? And if it is, is there a way we can develop and formulate a
>>>> coherent position that could become part of future Pirate Party political
>>>> statements? Do you think a statement on this position is desireable?
>>>> If it is, how do we make sure that a) there really is a change on this
>>>> once we have electoral success (and not fail like the LibDems in the UK),
>>>> and b) how can we reach out to other parties that share this position (like
>>>> the Green parties in the UK, US and France)?
>>>>
>>>> kind regards
>>>>
>>>> Justus Römeth
>>>>
>>>> ____________________________________________________
>>>> Pirate Parties International - General Talk
>>>> pp.international.general at lists.pirateweb.net
>>>> http://lists.pirateweb.net/mailman/listinfo/pp.international.general
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> ____________________________________________________
>>> Pirate Parties International - General Talk
>>> pp.international.general at lists.pirateweb.net
>>> http://lists.pirateweb.net/mailman/listinfo/pp.international.general
>>>
>>>
>>
>> ____________________________________________________
>> Pirate Parties International - General Talk
>> pp.international.general at lists.pirateweb.net
>> http://lists.pirateweb.net/mailman/listinfo/pp.international.general
>>
>>
>
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