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IRELAND’S SYSTEM for electing members of the Dáil could face an unprecedented overhaul, following a decision by the Constitutional Convention today.
A majority of the 100-member convention has said that electoral reform might include not only changes to the existing system of proportional representation, where members are elected by a single transferable vote, but also an entirely new electoral system.
When asked what type of format they would like Irish elections to take, members heavily favoured the ‘mixed member’ system used in countries like Germany and New Zealand.
Those systems ask voters to cast two separate votes: one for a constituency representative, and a separate vote for a specific political party. The final composition of the parliament is then influenced by the second vote, while the identities of the TDs themselves are governed by the first.
This system was backed by 69 per cent of members, while a ‘proportional list system’ – where voters choose a party, and separately rank the party’s national candidates (or where the party itself ranks its candidates in order of preference) – was supported by 29 per cent of voters.
Only 3 per cent of participants said they would favour a British-style ‘first past the post’ model, where the candidate with the highest number of first-preference votes wins a seat.
A further investigation on the exact model that the Convention might recommend will be held next month.
The Convention’s deliberations will also take into account the current system of multi-TD constituencies, whether ministers should remain members of the Oireachtas, the possibility of compulsory voting, and the overall size of the Dáil.
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It’s pretty bad alright. I’ve been in monsoon rains in Asia, and it was nothing compared to the rain I experienced on the NSW south coast today. I’ve used the phrase “bucketing down” all my life, but today was the first time I’ve used it accurately without exaggeration. It was like thousands of buckets of water were just being poured from the sky, relentlessly for about an hour. Then it just went back to heavy rain. Then it bucketed again for another hour or so, and when it did, you literally couldn’t see a meter outside your window.
Due to get worse tomorrow and then reduce to heavy rain for the next 10 days or so. But with everything else that’s happening in the world, I count my chickens that we are in a safely high area, and not a flood plane or a war zone.
@Jonathan Nolan: As you know its come down from Brisbane .. and you’re right, never seen rain like it. 250mm each day for 3 days solid. Some places had over a metre in that time. Had we had one more day I’d be cleaning out my own flooded house right now.
@Pablo: take care Pablo. Let’s hope it calms down or goes off the coast or something. It’s pretty ridiculous the amount of water coming down stay safe
@Jonathan Nolan: Take care, Jonathan. Melbourne is unusually humid but dry for now. Time to get a federal government that takes climate change seriously, that spends our taxes where it is needed, rather than on their mate.
@A Well Known Comical Stereotype AKA PRGuy: your not wrong.
@A Well Known Comical Stereotype AKA PRGuy: yeah it’s been lovely in Melbourne the last few weeks. The rain up there looks crazy. I heard that in one hour somewhere in Queensland they had more than Melbourne’s entire annual rainfall!
Hope you stay safe and dry there and can help others out. A metre of rain sounds destructive, especially on baked-dry land.
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