VotingIn Canada and Around the World

Before you can understand voting you need to see the results so you know what we are talking about.

The following slides show the Canadian Federal election of 2004 as an example.

The 2004 Federal ElectionTo the right you will see a chart showing the popular vote (% of people) who voted for each of the major parties during the 2004 election.

PARTY % of the Vote

Bloc Quebecois 12.4

Conservative 29.605

Liberal 36.705

NDP 15.69

Other 5.6

Total 100.00

One possible result of 2004 election

The table to the right shows what the results of the 2004 federal election would be IF each party received the same percentage of seats as the percentage of votes that it won.

PARTY % of the Vote

% of the

seatsBloc Quebecois

12.4 38.2

Conservative

29.605 91.2

Liberal 36.705 113.1

NDP 15.69 48.3

Other 5.6 17.2

Total 100.00 308

Actual Results of 2004 electionThe chart to the right shows the actual number of seats that each party won during the 2004 election.

PARTY Number of Seats

Bloc Quebecois

54

Conservative 99

Liberal 135

NDP 19

Other 1

Total 308

The DifferenceThe chart to the right shows the difference between the actual number of seats won and the number of seats that would have been won based on popular vote.

PARTY Number of

Seats Actually Won

% of the

Seats by

Popular Vote

Change

Bloc Quebecois

54 38.2 +15.8

Conservative

99 91.2 +7.8

Liberal 135 113.1 +21.9NDP 19 48.3 -29.3Other 1 17.2 -16.2Total 308 308 0

So the question you should be asking is: Why is there a difference?

The answer is two fold:1. That Canada decides who

represents Canadians based on electoral districts not popular vote. The following slides show our electoral maps.

2. How Canadians vote changes who gets elected. So we will look at voting systems as well.

The following slides show what type of electoral system Canada uses as well as several others that are used around the world.

As always it is up to you to decide which one of these systems is best.

First Past the Post Voting (FPP)The voter only votes for one candidate and

whoever gets the highest number of votes is elected.

It is the easiest vote counting system to calculate results.

The winning candidate is the one who gains more votes than any other candidate, but not necessarily an absolute majority (50% + 1).

FPP is used in the United Kingdom, Canada, India, and the United States.

Preferential Voting (PV)Electors must rank all candidates by placing the number

‘1’ for their preferred candidate and consecutive numbers from ‘2’ for their 2nd choice, ‘3’ for their 3rd choice and so on until all candidates are numbered.

If no candidate has an absolute majority, the candidate with the lowest number of 1st preferences is eliminated, and their ballot papers are examined for 2nd preferences to be assigned to remaining candidates in the order as marked.

The totals are then checked and this process is repeated until one candidate has an absolute majority.

PV is used in the Australian federal House of Representatives and in Nauru.

Two Round System (TRS)The TRS is conducted in the same way as an

FPP election and if a candidate receives an absolute majority of votes, they are elected.

If no candidate receives an absolute majority a second round of voting is conducted, often a week or two later and the winner of this round is declared elected.

The TRS is used in countries such as France, Mali, Togo, Egypt, Iran, Belarus and Ukraine.

List Proportional Representation (List PR)List PR is used in multi-member electorates

where votes are cast in order of preference for the parties which have registered a list of candidates.

Parties receive seats in proportion to their overall share of the total vote and winning candidates are taken from the lists in order of their position.

Mixed Member Proportional (MMP)A proportion of the parliament is elected by

majority methods, usually from single-member electorates, while the remainder come from PR Lists.

Under MMP systems, the List PR seats compensate for any disproportions produced by the district seat results.

MMP is used in countries such as Germany, New Zealand, Italy and Venezuela.