Policy Exchange

By: Dana Wagner on May 22, 2016

Several other democratic countries have changed their electoral systems without a referendum, including Japan, Australia and France.

(Note: Skip to the bottom for a primer on electoral systems.)

The Liberals told Canadians that federal elections using first-past-the-post voting are over. While the new voting system is debated, the process to choose a new system is under fire by the opposition NDP and Conservatives.

A special committee of MPs will be created by the Liberals to study new models. So far, the selection process will not involve a referendum – which is what the Conservatives want to see.

Laying out the party’s position in the House of Commons, Jason Kenney, a Conservative MP and the former defence minister, said the Liberals would be “the first government of a major democracy to change the electoral system without a direct popular mandate expressed in a referendum.”

That’s not true. Several major democracies have reformed their electoral system without first holding a referendum. And these are not just tweaks, but major shifts from one system to another. For example:

Japan

Japan implemented what Lawrence LeDuc, a retired University of Toronto professor and expert on electoral reform, called “a major overhaul” of its electoral system in 1994. It changed from a system that used single, non‐transferable vote (largely unique to Japan), to a mixed system that has some seats chosen by single voting, and some by proportional representation. There was no referendum. (Learn more here).

Australia

Australia switched from the single member plurality system to preferential voting in 1918 without a referendum. Compulsory voting was introduced in 1924 without a referendum. And it adopted proportional representation using the single, transferable vote system for its Senate elections in 1948 without a referendum. (Learn more here).

France

All without a referendum, France abandoned proportional representation for two-round vote (in 1958), re-instated proportional representation (in 1985), and went back to a two-round vote (in 1986). (Learn more here).

Italy

Italy is a slightly different case. The country’s lawmakers approved a major change to its electoral system in 2015. The new system gives a majority to a party that wins at least 40 per cent of the vote, and a second round of voting follows if no party meets the 40 per cent threshold. The difference with the Italian case is that a referendum is coming after the fact. Since the reform passed, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi promised a referendum on the new system plus other reforms, including a Senate overhaul, later in 2016. (Learn more here).

Verdict? Kenney’s statement is false. Andrew Heard, of Simon Fraser University, called Kenney “misinformed.” Brian Tanguay, a Wilfrid Laurier professor who drafted a 2004 Law Commission of Canada report on electoral reform, was more direct: “Kenney’s claim is so far off base that it’s embarrassing.”

Did you know?

A number of Canadian provinces have changed the rules without a major Yes-No vote. Manitoba and Alberta adopted new electoral systems in the 1920s and 1930s without referendums. British Columbia switched to a ranked ballot in the early 1950s, shortly before returning to first-past-the-post, again without a referendum.

Electoral system primer

Majoritarian system: Also called winner-takes-all, or a first-past-the-post system. The seat goes to the candidate who receives the most votes.

Proportional representation system: The percentage of seats mirrors the percentage of votes. For example, 40 per cent of seats goes to a party that receives 40 per cent of the vote. One type of proportional representation is the single transferable vote, which allots just one vote per voter, but allows the vote to transfer from a first-preference to second-preference. The single non-transferable vote also allows one vote per voter, but does not allow a transfer if the candidate is unsuccessful.

Mixed system: A mix of majoritarian and proportional representation systems.

(Learn more here).

Update, May 23, 2016

After FactsCan published our check, Kenney issued a correction on Twitter. He said, “Thank-you. I stand duly corrected. I ought to have said the only modern Westminster democracy.”

This is inaccurate. Two of our examples above are Westminster democracies, Australia and Japan, although only Japan’s electoral reform can be considered more modern. It happened in 1994. Australia’s last reform was in 1948.

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