加国选举制度改革(二)：边缘党最受益

 

 

和美国总统选举制度不同的是，加拿大总理并非是由选民投票选举产生，而是由在众议院获得最多议席的政党的领袖担任。替换“简单多数制”的竞选承诺并不会影响这种选举模式。由于加国参议员都是直接任命而不是选举产生，因此他们也不会选受改革选举的影响。

Unlike the presidential selection system in the united States, the Canadian Prime Minister is not elected specifically for the post but is typically the leader of the political party that holds the largest number of seats in the House of Commons. The election promise to replace the “First-past-the-post” system will have no impact on that position. The Senate members in Canada are appointed and not elected so they are not affected as well.

 

目前，选举改革特别委员会中的12名投票成员占比如下：自由党（5人），保守党（3人），新民主党（2人）魁人政团（1人），绿党（1人）。该委员会的最新投票成员构成使得执政自由党不再占有绝对多数优势，从而也就无法强制实施任何最有利于其实现在下届大选中继续保有议会（众议院）多数议席之目标的选举制度。

Currently, the Special Committee on Electoral Reform has 12 voting members with the following composition – : Liberals (5), Conservatives (3), NDP (2), Party Quebecois (1) and Green Party (1). This latest constituency of the Special Committee on Electoral Reform will no longer provide the ruling Liberals with a clear majority to impose any voting system that will be most advantageous to their goal to retain a majority of seats in Parliament (House of Commons) in the next election.

 

自从2016年6月以来，选举改革特别委员会已经举行多次会议及公听会，其最近一次公听会是在2016年10月7日举行。我已经完成了政府网站上的相关调查问卷。下面我们就来了解一下拟议的各种选举制度：

The committee held a number of meetings and hearings since June, 2016 and conducted its last meeting for public input on October 7, 2016. I have personally answered a survey on the government's web site. Let us look at the various proposed systems: 

 

(1) 名单比例代表(PR)制：
(1) List Proportional Representation (PR) systems:

 

该选举制度旨在严格按照各政党所获选票在总票数中所占比例分配政党的众议院议席数额。在这种制度下有两种选举方式（“封闭式名单制”和“开放式名单制”）。国会议员是从各政党在选举日前草拟的候选人名单中选出。 

This is a system that seek to closely match a political party's seat allocation in the House of Commons with its vote share. Within this system, there are two variations (closed-list and open-list). Members of Parliament (MP's) are elected from lists of candidates drawn up by each party before the election date.

 

(a)按照“封闭式名单制”，选民只能投票支持自己心仪的政党。然后各政党按照所获选票在总票数中所占比例分配议席数额，之后再从此前准备好的候选人排名名单中根据所分配的议席总数选出国会议员。

(a) In the “Closed-list” system, voters just vote for the political party of their choice. Each party is then allocated seats in proportional to their national popular votes. MP's are then selected from the “ranked” listing previously prepared up to the total number allocated.

 

(b)按照“开放式名单比例代表制”，事先准备好的候选人名单不会进行排名，选民将从政党提供的名单中选出心仪的候选人。

(b) In the “Open List” system, the prepared lists are not ranked. Voters will vote for preferred candidate(s) from a party list.

 

(2)比例代表(PR)制——单一转移投票制(STV)

(2) Proportional Representation (PR) systems – Single Transferable Vote (STV):

 

按照这种选举制度，不会再按“选区”对全国进行划分，而是在面积更大的选举区内各自选出多名国会议员，而他们的得票总数就代表着总票数。由于该制度确定获胜者的程序非常复杂，因此在选举夜需要花费更长时间才能得出结果。

In this system, the country is not divided into “Ridings” any more. It is divided into larger electoral districts each electing a number of MP's that together represent the overall vote. The process in determining the winners is very complicated and results will take much longer to tabulate on election night.

 

各政党会在每个选举区内提名一名候选人，然后选民通过投票选出一个或多个候选人，最终选出的候选人数量多少随意而定。候选人能否当选取决于其总体排名结果。

Each party shall submit a candidate within the district and voters will rank one or more candidates on the ballot. They may rank as few or as many candidates as they wish. Candidates get elected based on their overall ranking results. 

 

一旦计票结果出炉，达到或超出基于投票数和空缺席位数而确定的选票定额的候选人则可赢得议席，而这被称之为“第一轮”计票。在“第一轮”计票结束后如果选举区内仍有空缺席位，就会进行“第二轮第一次计票”，将获胜候选人所获的超额选票按照选民所投的第二优先选择重新分配给相应的候选人。如果这一轮计票结束后席位仍未填满，就会进行“第二轮第二次计票”。得票最少的候选人将被淘汰，而其选票将会重新分配给其余尚未当选的候选人。如此循环计票将会反复进行，直至所有席位都被填满。这是不是听起来就非常复杂并且难以理解和参与，事实也的确如此！

Once the results are in, candidates win their seats when they meet or exceed a vote quota that is based on the vote cast and available seats. This is called the “First round”. When this does not fill all of the seats within the district, a “Second Round Step 1 counting” will take place. Second-preference votes on the excess ballots of the winning candidate(s) are reallocated to the respective candidates. When seats are still not filled, “Second Round Step 2 counting” will take place. The candidate with the least number of votes is eliminated and his/her votes are reallocated to the remaining perspective candidates. This cycle will repeat until all the seats are filled. If this sounds very complicated and difficult to understand and participate, it is! 

 

按照上述这些拟议的选举制度，从中获益最多的政党将是边缘政党（新民主党、魁人政团及绿党），他们有望看到各自的国会议员数量即刻增加。基于各政党的得票比例历史，在实施新选举制度后如果以前的投票趋势继续持续，少数执政党将会成为家常便饭。最终，在联合政府不能有效运作或是支持性政党决定将少数联邦政府拉下马时，选举也会变得更加频繁。

 Under these proposed systems, the parties that will benefit most will be the fringe parties (NDP, Parti Quebecois, and Green). They are expecting to see increases in their number of MP's immediately. If previous voting trends are repeated, then the chances for electing Minority governing party in Parliament will almost be a regular certainty based on the histories of their proportional share of popularity votes. As an end result, elections will be held more often when coalition governments cannot work effectively or whenever supporting parties decide to pull the plug on a minority federal government. 

 

下一次，我将继续论述其他拟议的选举制度。

I will continue our discussions on the rest of the proposed election systems next time.