I have a few comments with respect to the points made in this article which appeared today.
1. We are prisoners of the two-party system that the FPTP generates. We don't have a two-party system here but most elections have been dominated by two alliances each made up of two or more parties. Our political system has been quite dynamic if we look at the weights of the different parties on the political chessboard over time and in the different alliances at voting time. It has also been renewing itself. Maybe not at the speed we would have wished though.
In fact the problems we're having have more to do with a serious degrading of policy-making than with some imagined flaws of the FPTP. The latter is an excellent system that needs a little tweaking. We definitely don't want what happened in Rodrigues with its PR system. At any rate. More on this soon.
2. We've seen many reports on electoral reform throughout the years. A handful at most as far as I can remember. Besides we haven't seen a lot of good ideas. That come close to the quality of our FPTP system.
3. Things will not change because the FPTP is in the interest of the current political class. Not really. Ramgoolam, Sithanen, Boolell and many others are not in Parliament because we voters so decided. Just like no candidate from R&A was returned because none convinced enough voters. What the LP/MMM alliance proposed in 2014 was in their sole interest: PR and lists to party till they are removed from Parliament. Feet first. And after being photoshopped. By a mortician. R&A endorsed these dumb and dangerous reforms including double candidacies. The latter doesn't exactly encourage political renewal.
4. Terms should be limited. Cannot disagree with this.
5. We should go back to one-member constituencies. Like in 1959 and 1963. Absolutely. We'd not only be saying goodbye to 'vot blok' but also hello to election results on voting day.
6. A dose of PR to improve the seats/votes ratio. Not really. Again, we don't want to give politicians lists to party. Till they drop dead. Besides there are better ways of doing this.
7. Elimination of ethnicity on election ballots. Makes sense. We just need to go back to what we had in 1959 and 1963.
8. Regulating political donations. Yes, we need to think this over. Fast.
1. We are prisoners of the two-party system that the FPTP generates. We don't have a two-party system here but most elections have been dominated by two alliances each made up of two or more parties. Our political system has been quite dynamic if we look at the weights of the different parties on the political chessboard over time and in the different alliances at voting time. It has also been renewing itself. Maybe not at the speed we would have wished though.
In fact the problems we're having have more to do with a serious degrading of policy-making than with some imagined flaws of the FPTP. The latter is an excellent system that needs a little tweaking. We definitely don't want what happened in Rodrigues with its PR system. At any rate. More on this soon.
2. We've seen many reports on electoral reform throughout the years. A handful at most as far as I can remember. Besides we haven't seen a lot of good ideas. That come close to the quality of our FPTP system.
3. Things will not change because the FPTP is in the interest of the current political class. Not really. Ramgoolam, Sithanen, Boolell and many others are not in Parliament because we voters so decided. Just like no candidate from R&A was returned because none convinced enough voters. What the LP/MMM alliance proposed in 2014 was in their sole interest: PR and lists to party till they are removed from Parliament. Feet first. And after being photoshopped. By a mortician. R&A endorsed these dumb and dangerous reforms including double candidacies. The latter doesn't exactly encourage political renewal.
4. Terms should be limited. Cannot disagree with this.
5. We should go back to one-member constituencies. Like in 1959 and 1963. Absolutely. We'd not only be saying goodbye to 'vot blok' but also hello to election results on voting day.
6. A dose of PR to improve the seats/votes ratio. Not really. Again, we don't want to give politicians lists to party. Till they drop dead. Besides there are better ways of doing this.
7. Elimination of ethnicity on election ballots. Makes sense. We just need to go back to what we had in 1959 and 1963.
8. Regulating political donations. Yes, we need to think this over. Fast.
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