FT 4-12: Candidacy Act

Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Right, here's the situation: our Fremontian constitution carries a provision whereby the number of seats in this chamber adjusts with every new session according to the number of candidates in the most recent general election. The equation that actually governs this process of apportionment may be found in Article I(2), but in essence, the more candidates run in an election, the more seats there are in the next Commons.*

The purpose of this arrangement is to allow for maximum flexibility in the face of shifting public interest. This is really important, because (as those of us who were around in 2015 learned the hard way) when the number of regional offices exceeds public interest in filling them, the result is an unrepresentative and inactive parliament packed with legislators of the last resort. The activity index fixes this by ensuring that there are only as many seats as the region is able to fill; but write-in votes and paper candidates can throw the system out of whack by distorting the input value, inflating the number of elected "candidates" far beyond what the region can actually sustain.

We saw this flaw first-hand in the August elections, when a handful of eleventh hour write-ins led to the election of an MP (Cora) who literally received 0 valid first preference votes. Not only does that defeat the whole purpose of the activity index, it is an insult to the idea of representative democracy, allowing candidates to be elected to high office with little or no public support.

This bill aims to fix that by requiring candidates to meet a baseline minimum standard in order to count as candidates for the purposes of parliamentary apportionment: that they be eligible to vote under regional law, and that their name appear on the ballot. It is important to note that this bill will not prevent anyone from being voted for, either as a write-in or a declared candidate. Nothing will change in terms of who can or cannot run for office under regional law; all this bill does is change the way we add or subtract seats in the Commons to more accurately reflect activity and public interest.

I'd really like to see this bill passed as soon as possible, so if any member has thoughts or concerns to air, now is the time to say so.

*The relationship between candidates and seats is a bit more complicated than a 1:1 ratio; where n is the number of candidates, if n ≥ 2, then two members are elected; if 6 ≥ n > 2, then the number of members elected is (n - 1); and if n > 6, then the number of candidates elected is (n - 2).

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