The Problem with PR

Many people along the Political spectrum cite proportional representation as the only true democratic form. They say it is the only form of voting which produce legitimate parliaments (and through them Governments) because it represents all the views of the electorate across the political spectrum. Now let ME tell you why this is a lie.

Here in Great Britain there is a real chance of a Hung Parliament, meaning that Nick Clegg will become the King-Maker to either Labour or the Conservatives. At present the Lib Dems are scoring between 18 - 20% of the vote in the opinion polls and if they did become the King-Makers in a hung Parliament then at least they represent a large amount of the electorate. However in democracies that use proportional representation then we find that the King-makers are not large parties with a large amount of support, but they are small parties with only a tiny amount of the people voting for them. For example look at Germany with its Free Democratic Party (FDP), this party only holds 5% (an average, currently at 14%) of the vote, yet has held on to the Foreign Ministry for decades. Is it fair that such a small party, with so few supporters should decide which party should lead a nation?

PR gives us small parties with a disproportionate power over the government. It also allows those small parties to force the larger parties that they have crow-bared into government to implement their policies and to make concessions.

In conclusion PR gives you weak governments, governments not representative of the people and political parties that have to make changes so that they betray the voter. Overall PR supporters are the enemy of democracy, trying to make Governments unaccountable to the electorate!