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October 10, 2006
Myth 4: Proportional representation means policy is hidden in smoky backroom deals, not out in the open in a single party's manifesto
There is a lovely romantic notion that comes with FPTP, that a party publishes its manifesto, stands on that basis, and then works hard to implement it when the public have endorsed it. The contrary to this is that, with coalition government, manifestos are chopped around, mixed and matched, and the voters thus have no idea what they're voting on, as compromises will be reached behind closed doors, in the infamous post-election 'smoke-filled rooms'.
Leaving aside the fact that most voters do not read a single manifesto, let alone make a decision based on having read all of them, if manifestos were adhered to, we'd have had a referendum on the voting system by now, as included in Labour's 1997 pre-election promises. As you may have noticed, we haven't.
Manifestos are written less as a guideline to how a party will govern and more as exercises in offending as few people as possible and in not using any verbs. In the 2005 election, Labour's 'Forward not Back' manifesto took the party beyond parody, as they faced claims that they had lifted the slogan from a spoof election in The Simpsons.
If the need for a coalition looks likely, parties tend to make their intentions clear before the election and stand on that basis. It is often imprudent to do otherwise – voters can easily feel betrayed if the party they voted for is seen to team up with another party that they're not so keen on, and betrayal, or the appearance of betrayal, is the most electorally suicidal act a party can perpetrate: if voters feel that the party they voted for has abandoned its principles to get into power, that party will most likely be mauled at the next election. This happened to the New Zealand First party which was punished in the 1999 election after going into coalition with a party it had vigorously denounced during the previous campaign.
Posted by pauldavies on October 10, 2006
Comments
"most voters do not read a single manifesto, let alone make a decision based on having read all of them."
This is true, but even if every voter pondered all party manifestos before voting, 60% of them, under FPTP, could be certain that there was not the slightest chance of the implementation of the manifesto they voted for.
Under coalition government not only would some element of the wishes of the supporters of the major party be implemented but also some element of those of the minor parties ie the MAJORITY of the electorate would have a say in government - under a civilised compromise In other words we would get rid of the kind of elective dictatorship that we endured for 18 years under Thatcher/Major, introducing extreme right-wing polices, unsupported by around 60% of those who voted and more than 70% of the total electorate.
WE saw the operation of PR par excellence recently in Germany where the electorate indicated plainly that they did not want the undiluted policies of either party involved. Would the supporters of FPTP claim that it would have been more acceptable if the unmodified policies of Angela Merkel, with her tiny majority, had been foisted on an unwilling half of the electorate?
Predictably of course the FPTP dinosaurs pointed at this compromise saying that this is the kind of thing that one can expect under PR - destruction "strong" government. What if the electorate does not want "strong" government?
What we seem to have got in fact is a smoothly functioning government under Angela Merkel. Not a congratulatory squeak out of the FPTP lot!
Posted by: Joe Patterson at October 11, 2006 12:02 PM
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