Electoral Reform Lessons from Abroad‪.‬

It is commonplace for Canadians to cite our federal and provincial electoral systems as models that should be copied by others. There probably is not a parliamentarian, past or present, who has not told an audience of students about the virtues of our democratic process, and especially about the way in which our "first past the post" voting system helps ensure strong and decisive majority governments, thereby avoiding the instability of European multi-party systems and coalition governments based on proportional representation. However as few of the new democracies seem to be interested in adopting our electoral system, this article suggests we may want to pause and rethink how good the system really is. Our electoral system has many admirable traits. Having observed or supervised elections in various parts of Eastern Europe, Asia and South America, and having been either a candidate or a campaign worker in more federal, provincial and local elections than I care to remember, I can testify personally to the comfort that comes with knowing that there is no doubt about the impartiality of the people running the process, the secrecy of the ballot, or the accuracy of the count. We take for granted things that are not assured in many other countries. We do not have to worry about whether the ballots being counted are the ones that were cast. No one in Canada has to be afraid that soldiers or police will seize the ballot boxes at the close of polls in a phoney attempt to ensure their "security" until the count can begin. We do not have to fear that losing incumbents will refuse to leave office, claiming that the election process was fraudulent because they do not like the outcome.