Listen To The People On Electoral Reform, Says Green Party

"'The Harper government promised in the Throne Speech to consider reforming our archaic first-part-the-post voting system,' said May, 'but they have no real interest in changing a system that puts them in power with 36% of the vote.'"

Actually, counting the votes Harper got is misleading. The situation is far worse when the vote turn out is factored in. The fact is that voter turnout has been dropping like a rock in recent years, down to 65% in the last federal election.

After factoring in the voter turnout, Harper got in with only about 23.6% of the eligible vote, and that dismal figure is likely to be even lower if spoiled ballots are included, but because there are no statistics showing spoiled ballot counts we cannot say for certain what percentage of the actual eligible vote went to Harper (someone with the resources at hand should petition Elections Canada to get the data on spoiled ballots).

So there you have it, at least 76.4% of the people DID NOT vote for Harper, yet he's the MAN anyway!

If you are going to protest the uselessness of voting by not participating, it is best to NOT show up rather than spoil your ballot.

Unfortunately, if you are not registered to vote, you won't be counted among the no shows, however there are some side benefits to being not registered to vote, such as staying off certain government watch lists that are compiled from registered voter lists.

EXACTLY the reason we need to change the system. More and more (and it's even worse in the US. Don't even GO there...)

People are realizing they no longer live in a democracy.

Their vote does not count, or they are forced to 'strategize' by figuring out who is 'left' and who is 'right' and side with the pony with the most chance of defeating your most hated enemy.

If people were simply allowed to vote for who they truly believed in, and that proportion then was involved in running the country, you would see a massive return to the voting booths.

---
“The war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous, the essential act of warfare is the destruction of the produce of human labour”

"If people were simply allowed to vote for who they truly believed in, and that proportion then was involved in running the country, you would see a massive return to the voting booths."

Perhaps.
Belief is a rather nebulous thing though.

Said it before and will repeat it till it sinks in,
Licence voters!
Instruct 'em, test 'em, and licence 'em!



---
"It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities."
—Sir Josiah Stamp

Of course if we don't vote the way you would have us to, the election, probably all elections, are a farce. We can play with the numbers forever and prove whatever we want. We want percentages but sometimes we want how many didn't vote that way. Forget that the rules are plain as day and that percentage representation has lead to some very sad choices in Italy and Israel. Why would you think it would be better here?