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April 25, 2006
British politics is too nasty
All the below from here, a working paper on the way MMP works in Wales and Scotland, in comparison to how it works in Germany.
Results show that the constituency role is firmly entrenched in the British political tradition, and that party list representatives work very hard to serve constituents, even if those constituents are not located in the conventional, small geographical area that British representatives are accustomed to working in.
One should question why it is that party list-elected representatives would try so hard to become elected in single-member constituencies at the next election when it would be more rational simply to consolidate their positions high on the party list.
The widely-held perception of political scientists and commentators is that German voters and politicians do not distinguish between constituency and list members; there is no “caste� system in which one type of representative is seen as more legitimate than the other.
[Quote from an MSP] It [having a list MSP hanging around] makes my day-to-day work much more demanding and pressurised. However, it also makes me work harder and improves the working of democracy in my constituency. Good for the people, bad for the politicians.
Conflicts have arisen between constituency and list members in Scotland and Wales when list members shadow their constituency counterparts. In Germany, however, this kind of conflict is not the case. German constituency members accept the presence of list members in their constituencies far more readily than is the case in Britain.
In order for the MMP system to be as successful in Scotland and Wales as it has been in Germany, Labour members, who now hold most constituency seats in both nations’ assemblies, must learn to accept the increased competition brought about by their party’s constitutional reform efforts. While the Labour members’ problems with shadowing might simply disappear over time, it is possible that the more majoritarian political culture of Britain will prevent the kind of “tolerant� outcome seen in Germany.
Posted by pauldavies on April 25, 2006
