Re: Replace ‘first past the post’ voting with ‘Proportional Representation’.
Originally Posted by
Uncle Joe
->
Who the hell asked you??? - you don't even live here, and for your information, reform is already on the cards as there is a resolution to abolish the HoL.
I don't live in the UK, but we have had proportional representation for some time.
There are 150 MPs in the Dutch parliament, meaning a government needs 76 seats to form a majority. No single party ever manages this and the Netherlands has been governed by coalitions for more than a century.
Parliament is elected by proportional representation in a single, nationwide constituency – which means that any party that wins 0.67% of the national vote is assured of a seat.
Dutch politics have been marked in recent decades by a sharp decline in support for the three main parties of government from the centre-right and left. Their share of the vote has shrunk from more than 80% in the 1980s to ca. 40% in last elections (2017).
In the Netherlands, it has been paralleled by a proliferation of smaller special interest parties: no fewer than 28 of them, many new, were contesting in 2017. As many as 13 got seats,*including party for the animals (5 seats), 50plus (4 seats), denk (translates as think) an islamic party (3 Seats), forum for democracy (2 seats).
It is this fragmentation of the vote, rather than a big increase in support, that could see the PVV become the second largest party.