PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA (VICTORIA-TASMANIA) INC.
	Tel +613 9589 1802, +61429176725		18 Anita Street
	A0048538N Victoria	www.prsa .org.au	BEAUMARIS VIC 3193
	ABN 31 010 090 247	info@prsa.org.au	2009-06-20

"First-Past-the-Post" (Plurality) Systems are Inferior to

Transferable Vote (Preferential) Electoral Systems

"FIRST-PAST-THE-POST" USED TO FILL A SINGLE VACANCY:

A "First-Past-the-Post", or plurality, electoral system results in the election of a candidate that can be supported by less than 50% of the voters, with the remaining voters preferring somebody else.

That unsatisfactory and undemocratic outcome is avoided with the Transferable Vote (Preferential Voting), where the ballot-papers of those that voted for the least well-supported candidates are examined successively and transferred to remaining candidates until one of those remaining candidates receives an absolute majority of the votes cast, i.e. more votes than the combined votes of the remaining candidate or candidates whose votes have not been needed to produce such a majority.

"FIRST-PAST-THE-POST" USED TO FILL MULTIPLE VACANCIES:

Various arrangements are possible here, and each of them has proved to be unsatisfactory, compared with the quota-preferential alternative.

Examples are:

• The Single Non-transferable Vote, used for elections in Puerto Rico, Taiwan, Japan's Upper House, and formerly,  Japan's & Korea's Lower Houses
• The Limited Non-transferable Vote, used for elections in Gibraltar and, from 1867-85, for some constituencies for the UK House of Commons
• The Cumulative Vote, used for elections to many US company boards, and on Norfolk Island
• The Multiple Non-transferable Vote, with plumping accepted as in the Isle of Man, or with plumping not accepted as for Australia's Senate 1902-17

Click here to see The Fatal Flaws in First-past-the-post Electoral Systems.