Advantages And Disadvantages Of Proportional Representation By Single Transferable Vote

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Proportional Representation by single transferable vote is the system used in Ireland to elect Dáil Éireann. I will be looking at how PR-STV is used within Ireland and the steps involved in the voting selection. I will also be looking at the positives and negatives of PR-STV within the Irish electoral system. PRSTV was first introduced in 1918 in a single local council within Sligo. The British government then introduced it into Ireland in 1920 (under British rule) and was then introduced into the Irish Free State constitution in 1922. How PRSTV is used to elect Dáil Éireann? The voters-Persons in Ireland who are legible to vote, the voters, are given a list of candidates and are then needed to give in order their preference of which candidate …show more content…

From my reading of Coakley and Gallagher “The Political System in Ireland” there are many political consequences of PR-STV. Firstly there is the consequences for the government and its stability along with consequences for the party system. Due to Ireland’s experience with PR-STV leads to a theory that PR-STV leads to a weaker party and weaker organisations. Katz looked at this and came up with a better version of this theory stating “Where intraparty choice is allowed, parliamentary parties will tend to be disunited” (Katz, 1980:34) with another version from Blais “There is strong evidence that the single transferable vote leads to a weaker party system” (Blais, 1991:248-9). Both of the above writers lean towards the same idea, the idea that PR-STV can be a cause of friction between an intra-party and major competition. Due to PR-STV there is a rise in the number of smaller governments that might reply on and need the backing of independents rather than to get support from another party in a partnership contract. It also focuses on just the individual candidates instead of parties’ all together and promoting competition between candidates in local constituencies. The role of TD’s is also prevalent within the Irish political system. As Farrell says “There is an evident consensus among deputies that the competition in constituency service has got out of hand” (Farrell, 1985: 14). The