Free and Fair Elections - Canadian Politics Essay

Free and Fair Elections - Canadian Politics - Essay Example Though the Canadian electoral system to a large extent affiliates to many democratic imperatives like being a representative democracy where the legislative office is decided through popular competitive elections, a political system that affiliates to a multiparty system of democracy, accrual of a range of political choices to the voters, and a reasonably fair and transparent system of governance, still, it will be unfair to conclude that all is well with the Canadian electoral system. ... First past the post system first and foremost is quiet simple and straightforward. Thereby such an electoral system is easy and economical to execute and in no way bothers the people who cannot understand the more complex electoral systems.5 First past the post system is also economical in terms of time in the sense that it takes only a few hours to count the total number of votes and the results could be declared at the earliest.6 This system of electioneering tends to get a sense of the voters’ views as to which party ought to from the government in the simplest possible way and thereby presents a simple and straightforward view pertaining to the peoples’ will.7 However, it goes without saying that irrespective of being an utterly simplistic way of conducting elections, first past the post electoral system in a way suppresses the will and the views of a large number of voters and is certainly not good for democracy.8 Canada has been a thriving democracy since long and now is the high time that the Canadian electoral system must graduate to more inclusive and complex electoral systems. The biggest flaw with the first past the post system is that it readily facilitates a two party system and tends to favor single party governments who are not required to rely on the support of other parties to pass legislations.9 The first past the post system certainly tends to bypass the opinion and aspirations of a large chunk of voters, as the candidates even securing a marginal excess of votes could actually win.10 It does not matter how much votes the losing candidate accrues as the winning candidate is required to get more votes than the losing candidates. Besides, first past the