Insula Dei
belgiansocialist
YaBB God
Posts: 4,326
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« on: February 13, 2012, 11:14:23 AM » |
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'Hung parliaments' only exist under majoritarian systems. Under PR it's normal for no party to have an overall majority and coalitions are the norm. The 2009 European elections (with an unpopular Labour government having spent the last 12 years in government and the expected europhobia of the great British public) are probably as unrepresentative an election as you could possibly pick for what a general election under PR would look like. Euro elections are secondary elections in most countries. Voters voted to kick the government or stayed at home. Smaller parties with a dedicated base and sympathizers outside of their own voters (think: Greens; UKIP) will always do well in such elections.
Anyway a 'pure' PR system in the UK is extremely unfeasible as it would mean the partisan landscape would have been to redrawn completely. Ironically, the LibDems would be probably the first to explode under such a system. Though neither the conservatives and Labour wouldn't be longlived either. UKIP would never get over 5% in a real election I suppose, and the BNP wouldn't get 5% either. A more polished far-right outfit might get there, obviously, and if it could draw in the more unsavoury aspects of the Tory right, who knows where the limit for such a party would be?
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