I wonder why this hasn't happened yet? It's clear that the country wanted a change with COP securing more than 150,000 votes with an electorate of just over 800.000 - so what went wrong?
Proportional representation would address such an injustice whereby a large section of the country wants this party to represent them in national affairs but because they couldn't get enough votes in any one seat their voice was not important?
Various forms of proportional representation exist, an example is in Guyana where it was necessary to ensure that each ethnic group was fairly represented in the country's Parliament and a means of trying to end tribal voting.
They are truly minority representation systems where as many different parties as there are seats should be elected if everyone votes honestly, but often major parties will split their votes in order to make it proportional. Also, with small two or three member districts such systems often give similar results as proportional systems.
What is your view? Tune into television and radio channels from Trinidad & Tobago to hear the debate on proportional representation.
Posted by Douglas Ames
