Just noticed a good illustration of why first-past-the-post makes some sense in the comments of a post on the blog of Kirk West. This comment by Wilson is in relation to discussion about Jack Layton’s performance in his own riding:
As sor points out, Jack won more votes than EACH the runners-up.
But not more votes than ALL their combined vote.
Should Jack step aside for a Liberal led coalition in his riding?
I don’t know enough about all of the different voting methodologies such that I can put all my weight behind first-past-the-post, but as I noted to Steven Fletcher at his forum on the topic of Democratic Reform, FPtP certainly offers a pragmatic road to governance that allows legislators to get on with the business of legislating instead of coalition building. Wilson’s comment above re-frames the concept nicely.
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