The Confooooorm party of Canada

[Buck Birdseed]

Cosmic peace and inner harmony.

And we propos will probably tell you that the way we have our system implemented there's a 4% barrier to keep the li'l uns out.

[Ben Kenobi]

And we propos will probably tell you that the way we have our system implemented there's a 4% barrier to keep the li'l uns out.

With 300 seats, you would need 0.3% of the total vote to get 1 seat in the house of parliament.

In the 1993 and 1997 federal elections in Canada the Natural Law Party received up to 1% of the vote.

Or three seats in the House of Commons.

[St Leo]

So? Representing the nutcases is better than having the representatives for moderates try to be extremists to get the extremist vote.

[Ben Kenobi]

than having the representatives for moderates try to be extremists to get the extremist vote.

Which moderate party calls for the use of yogic flyers to garner the Natural Law vote?

My point is that proportional representation is not really proportional representation. Where one sets the bar, whether at 4% or 20%, you cannot represent every voter equally, even though that is precisely what every PR system claims.

Both systems cut out the little guy, be it first past the post or PR, its just that PR has a better 'image' of being more democratic.

As for a coalition, coalitions greatly increase the instability of the government, particularly when there is significant vote splitting, as here in Canada.