FPP is far better. Basically if someone wins the election, I want to know that they are in charge.

Originally Posted by the_13th_redneck

FPP is far better. Basically if someone wins the election, I want to know that they are in charge.

The thing with FPP is that you almost always end up with one party government.
A lot of people like this (myself included) because it generally brings stable and effective government although it has its negatives as well ie it is not necessarily representative of the general vote and it is possible to get a majority government with a less than 50% popular vote.
On the whole I preferred the Single Transferable Vote system as it was genuine proportional representation but you always got a winner however I suspect most people saw it as confusing.

I know it's got it's cons but I'd prefer it over ending up with several years of coalition governments... in which case you've got yourself years of paralysis.
Plus, if you don't like what that elected party did, the people can choose the other parties next time and give them a proper shot.

Originally Posted by the_13th_redneck

Plus, if you don't like what that elected party did, the people can choose the other parties next time and give them a proper shot.

I think you are assuming that people are capable of changing their vote, most people I know would vote for their traditional party even if they put a chimp up for office. In a lot of cases party support is almost inherited we have people who vote the way they do because their parents supported the party and thats good enough for them.

Oddly enough even though I hate MMP it suits my voting style as I support the local labour (center left) candidate because I think he is the best guy for the job but prefer a conservative government so I usually end up splitting my vote along individual and party lines.

Originally Posted by MontyB

I think you are assuming that people are capable of changing their vote, most people I know would vote for their traditional party even if they put a chimp up for office.

It has happened:

Tião, a bad-tempered chimpanzee, was put forward by the anti-establishment Brazilian Banana Party (Partido Bananista Brasileiro) as a candidate for the Rio de Janeiro mayoralty in 1988. The campaign's slogan was "Vote monkey - get monkey" (because people were tired of voting for one platform and then seeing the elected officials implementing another one). Tião received over 400,000 votes, coming third.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animals...ral_candidates

They can even get voted in as mayor, take this case.

In the 1968 election, a group of students put a donkey up for election. He finished second or third in a primary. Can't remember which one.

We had a homeless alcoholic chosen into the city counsel of Amsterdam in the '20's. His only political point was a free government-drink per day. He won the elections and the poor sod was declared insane and locked away in a luney-bin. How is that for a well oiled democracy?

Wasn't it Donald Rumsfeld who lost an election to a dead guy?

Originally Posted by Ted

We had a homeless alcoholic chosen into the city counsel of Amsterdam in the '20's. His only political point was a free government-drink per day. He won the elections and the poor sod was declared insane and locked away in a luney-bin. How is that for a well oiled democracy?

Of course these are really protest votes, in the UK our method is to vote for the Official Monster Raving Loony Party. In fact I know the leader quite well and have attended annual meetings in a local pub. Their defence policy was to declare war on France using peashooters as weapons off the cliffs of Dover, or something like that!

http://www.omrlp.com/

A popular vote is no better than anarchy. That was not the way the founders meant for things to be decided, by mob rule. That simply encourages buying votes with promises that can't possibly be fulfilled. If a politician promises everything for nothing, then the ones who vote for him/her become a bloc who are ignorant to the facts of life that success is not won through sloth and procreation at the expense of taxpayers. It has never worked and never will.