Like many who have never actually understood how MMP works, the Herald ignores the reality list MPs are elected by the national party vote. Sorry, but that is how it is. When I cast my party vote, I am voting for the entire "team". If the Herald doesn't (or doesn't want to) understand this, that's very much a flaw in their understanding rather than a flaw in MMP.
A list MP, like any MP, is selected by their party to stand before votes. A local MP stands only before the voters in one small part of the country. A list MP stands before the ENTIRE country. They are accountable, as a group, to ALL voters....not just a few in one place.
This one of the BEST things about MMP. Not only is there a local MP who is accountable - in practice - to the largest minority of local voters, but the entire party (many MPs) are accountable nationwide through the party vote. That was not possible under First Past the Post.
Under FPP, the best possible outcome for any single voter was that they voted for ONE candidate in one of many electorates. No other candidate, party or incumbent MP is in any way affected by that vote. It's the pea-shooter vote compared to MMP's shotgun vote.
How the Herald can be so confused as to think a voter (maybe - FPP after all) holding one MP to account is better than holding MANY to account, is not clear. But it is a common misapprehension among those who never wanted MMP and who have, consequently, refused to understand how it actually works.
One analogyu I use is the All Blacks. When you watch a rugby match, do you cheer for Daniel Carter and I cheer for Richie McCaw? No. We all cheer for the whole team.
FPP is the system that only lets you cheer for one player. MMP let's you back both your favourite player AND the whole team...and it might be a different team.Roughly one third of all voters split their vote between a local candidate of another party. The Herald calls for a system that would take this powerful tool for accountability away.
It's clear enough to me MMP is by far the better system, offering voters more powerful tools for enabling each and every voter to see their vote translated into representation.
When you boil down the arguments made by the Herald and others it comes down o them deciding that people they disagree with should not be allowed to elect the people of their choice. Yet they call themselves democrats....when clearly, by their own words, they have no real understanding at all of the term.
I'll think you'll find that they know exactly how MMP works. What they're really concerned with is that their preferred party can't win absolute majority anymore.
ReplyDeleteanon: Agreed....but it's better to highlight the flaws in their preposterous arguments than claim they are lying for profit and power. That becomes obvious when it becomes clear the refuse to accept the truth as the truth.
ReplyDeleteFPP also means that the fate of the country comes down to wrangling over where electoral boundaries are and what happens in a few select marginal seats. It means if you're a Labour supporter in Epsom your vote is worthless, if you're a National supporter in Manurewa the same is true. MMPs greatest asset is that every vote counts. It is the only true democracy.
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