An addendum to 'FPTP - about time we got past it ?'

I felt my previous blog focused too much on the ills of FPTP and the need to change it but did not go enough into the alternatives. So here it is...

PR method of voting allows for apportioning of seats in proportion to the votes received for a political party or group of parties. PR list methods could either be with an open list (the electorate votes for the candidates as well as the party) or closed list (the party approtions the seats within its members in a way it deems fit). Coalitions would still continue in the PR method of voting, infact become even more indispensable than now. Greater maturity among political parties under PR method of voting (if seen) should lessen the burden of instability on the electorate, while carrying all major sections of the polity together.

Run-off methods are normally used for single winner elections, where the winner is chosen in a multiple set of elections (the weak performers in the initial rounds of voting drop out to support stronger candidates, normally joining their cabinet in return). Instant Run-off method (IRV) is a condensed variant of the Run-off method. It uses a single round of voting (and thus is just as cheap & fast as FPTP) but voters can rank candidates. Single-winner elections are normally used successfully when the entire country is a single constituency (like in countries with executive presidency) and this means India moves from being a parliamentary form of government to some variant of a presidential form of government. Majority would get a chance to rule, & minority would get its pie as well, when it chooses to support the majority candidate. While this will ensure stability, Run-off methods, though fairer than FPTP, do not provide safeguards against tactical voting & elective dictatorships.

A mixed method of voting such as Parallel voting or Additional Member System and combines the best points of PR system & plurality system (such as FPTP) but as Arrow's impossibility theorem (see below) states, no system can be without faults, and unless the Indian government really shows the will to make changes, India is likely to live with FPTP for a long time to come.