{"id":1911,"date":"2012-09-28T10:10:42","date_gmt":"2012-09-28T10:10:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/2012\/09\/28\/letters-49\/"},"modified":"2019-09-22T22:07:24","modified_gmt":"2019-09-22T18:07:24","slug":"letters-49","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/letters-49\/","title":{"rendered":"Misperception of FPTP +PR electoral system"},"content":{"rendered":"

Letters<\/span><\/h3>\n

After reading the editorial of 21 Sep 2012, I concur that a holistic education campaign on PR – what it is, how does it work and most importantly, how does it impact on electoral outcomes – would enlighten voters.<\/span><\/p>\n

I would like to highlight two sentences in the editorial. First, “The MMM for example wants to walk away with a dose of proportional representation which will sooner or later thrust it in power without having to get into an alliance, by shifting the outcome of the prevailing First Past the Post System (FPTP). This happened in Rodrigues recently.” And second, “This BLS-incorporating PR has to be convincingly proved not to be capable of overturning the FPTP outcome from the elections.
\nThe fact is PR can indeed overturn the FPTP outcome. Take the case of 2 alliances A and B. Alliance A wins 34 out of the 62 FPTP seats while tallying 45% of the votes.\u00a0Alliance B wins 28 FPTP seats while attracting 48% of the votes. Let’s also assume\u00a020 PR seats and a 10% threshold vote for qualifying for such seats. With its 48% of the votes, Alliance B would be deemed to deserve (48 * 82) \/ (45 + 48)\u00a0or 42 out of the total of 82 seats. Thus Alliance B will be awarded 14 PR seats and in the process it will overtake Alliance A which will finally end up with a total of 40 seats after the PR round.
\nThe clear mathematical message\u00a0here is whether there are 2 or more parties competing,\u00a0a party can only be assured that its\u00a0FPTP “win”\u00a0is upheld under a mixed PR system only if it had attracted at least 50% of the votes. Only then will there be no surprise. There are several analogies when thinking about a mixed FPTP-PR system. One can think of a 2-lapse 800 metres race where the one who crosses first at the first lap need not be the one who wins the race. Another example is from our school days. The student who comes in first in the most subjects need not be the top overall student.<\/span><\/p>\n

Professor Singfat Chu<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

* * * <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

La politique du possible<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

Les suggestions de la Commission des Droits de l\u2019Homme des Nations Unies ont provoqu\u00e9 une vague de commentaires, les uns positifs, les autres n\u00e9gatifs, pour ne pas dire incendiaires \u00e0 plus d\u2019un titre. Chacun apporte ses critiques, ses observations, ses suggestions. Parmi, le leader de l\u2019Opposition, Paul Raymond B\u00e9renger, aussi leader du puissant parti politique qu\u2019est le MMM. Pour des raisons propres \u00e0 lui, il n\u2019a pas m\u00e9nag\u00e9 Rezistans ek Alternativ<\/em> en qualifiant les d\u00e9marches de ce parti politique comme \u00e9tant de l\u2019\u00e9chec pur et simple. Cela semble ne pas plaire \u00e0 certains \u00e0 la base m\u00eame du parti mauve.<\/span><\/p>\n

Autre voix non concordante avec Rezistans ek Alternativ<\/em>, celle d\u2019un vieux routier de la sc\u00e8ne politique \u00e0 Maurice – Yousuf Mohamed. Il condamne sans r\u00e9serve la jubilation de Rezistans ek Alternativ<\/em> car, selon lui, le parti politique n\u2019a rien gagn\u00e9 aupr\u00e8s de cette commission internationale. En effet, cette commission onusienne a fait des suggestions tr\u00e8s constructives pour apporter des changements au syst\u00e8me \u00e9lectoral du pays. Par exemple, effectuer un recensement de la population afin de conna\u00eetre le nombre exact de Musulmans, de Sino-mauriciens, de la Population g\u00e9n\u00e9rale et \u00e9videmment d\u2019Hindous\u2026 Car le rapport de la Commission pr\u00e9cise que le recensement de 1972 est largement d\u00e9pass\u00e9.<\/span><\/p>\n

Voil\u00e0 que ce rapport a apport\u00e9 dans son sillage des Ayes & Noes<\/em> concernant le si litigieux Best Loser System<\/em>… Abolir. Maintenir. Amender. Trois possibilit\u00e9s y sont mentionn\u00e9es. Alors que Paul B\u00e9renger, au nom de son parti politique, parle de maintenir le syst\u00e8me avec des amendements car ce syst\u00e8me dispara\u00eetra t\u00f4t ou tard, le partenaire du r<\/span>emake 2000, le MSM, est cat\u00e9gorique: il n\u2019est pas question d\u2019abolir le BLS. C\u2019est compr\u00e9hensible car le MSM est en train de ratisser large parmi la population pour obtenir la sympathie de chacune des communaut\u00e9s minoritaires. Parmi ceux qui parlent haut et fort pour maintenir le BLS, il y a Yousouf Mohamed, qui ne voit aucune raison de l\u2019abolir aussi longtemps qu\u2019une alternative n\u2019est pas trouv\u00e9e. Pas grate le dos malheur<\/em>, a-t-il d\u00e9clar\u00e9 \u00e0 un hebdomadaire dominical.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reste maintenant le Parti Travailliste, parti au pouvoir avec le Dr Navin Ramgoolam comme Premier ministre. Absent du pays quand le rapport \u00e9tait rendu public avec un certain \u00e9clat, ni lui ni son parti ne s\u2019est prononc\u00e9. Il vient de rentrer au pays apr\u00e8s une absence prolong\u00e9e pour diverses raisons. A coup s\u00fbr, il r\u00e9unira ses lieutenants et ses proches conseillers en mati\u00e8re politique afin de discuter \u00e0 fond de ce sujet tr\u00e8s controversable. Cela pourrait \u00eatre une autre excellente occasion pour lui de convoquer le leader de l\u2019Opposition, Paul B\u00e9renger, afin de discuter de ce sujet \u00e9pineux pour le bien du pays en g\u00e9n\u00e9ral. En m\u00eame temps, le rus\u00e9 leader du PTr aura le loisir de koz koze<\/em> sur d\u2019autres sujets, entre autres de la politique… Quoique PRB aurait d\u00e9clar\u00e9 qu\u2019une rencontre avec Navin Ramgoolam n\u2019est pas \u00e0 son agenda… Mais en politique, surtout \u00e0 Maurice tout est possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tout est possible car, \u00e0 Maurice, l\u2019impossible devient tr\u00e8s facilement possible et vice versa.<\/span><\/p>\n

I. A. R. <\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

* Published in print edition on 28 September 2012<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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