Is there any truth to the claim that preferential voting would result in more majority governments for centrist parties? The evidence seems to point to the opposite conclusion, fewer majority governments and no benefit to centrist parties. Both in Australia with Alternative Voting, and in France with two-round voting, two forms of preferential voting, centrist parties have not been successful. The…
Monthly Archives: July 2016
Extremist Politics
What do Jean-Marie Le Pen, Nigel Farage, and Marine Le Pen have in common? All three are or were leaders of major anti-immigrant parties. All three have repeatedly tried and failed to get elected in their country in single-member districts. And all of them keep on being easily re-elected to the European Parliament, which uses multi-member districts. In fact, Jean-Marie Le Pen…