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I lived in Italy for a number of years and got to see proportional representation's warts up close. I'm not convinced it's a whole lot better. I really don't li
by davidw 7y ago
I lived in Italy for a number of years and got to see proportional representation's warts up close. I'm not convinced it's a whole lot better. I really don't like how much parties control who is actually elected.
Also it's a bit far fetched in the US, whereas something like Ranked Choice voting seems to be gaining a bit of traction.
- lostlogin 7y agoGood example against. The political scene in Italy is not one that anyone would likely want to replicate. I had New Zealand’s system (mine) in mind when posting.
- jacquesm 7y agoItaly - and Belgium - are two of the most corrupt countries in the first batch of countries in the EU. Either of those would serve as examples that proportional representation can be messed up as well. But it's a lot harder than in fptp and similar systems and in those places where it works well (mostly: the rest of Europe) it works as long as you don't have an absolute majority that is heading for the cliffs. After that all bets are off.
- davidw 7y agoIsrael is another example of it not working out very well. It's not just the corruption, it's the disproportionate power that small parties get, like the time the Communist party in Italy took out the center-left government because the government wasn't giving them everything they wanted. The party that gets 10% of the vote and is in coalition with the party that got 45% can hold the much larger party "hostage". This led to yet another Berlusconi government. Also, I do appreciate in the US having a representative that is beholden to me, in my district, rather than 'the party', as occurs in many PR systems.