Plurality/ FPTP & other electoral systems

[drain.you]

Hey guys,
Was wondering how elections would take place in a communist state?
I mean, the Plurality electoral system/ FPTP* (ie: the candidates with the most votes wins) sucks to be fair. Sure it looks fine upon first glance but take this example:

Joe Blogs - 1002 votes
Mr. Man - 570 votes
Mrs. Womyn -572

Yeah, Joe Blogs got the most votes by about 400 however the total of Mr.Man's votes and Mrs.Womyn adds up to 1142 votes, which means more people voted against Mr.Man than those who voted for him.

So, I'm guessing Communism would implent another voting system, but which one?

If everyone is of the same party however, then I don't understand how PR** could work because that is representing by number of votes and how does that work if you are electing one person from one soviet? PR works so that a party gets a percent of votes then it will have the same perecentage of representives in the parliament/congress/etc and then it selects the representitives.

How did the USSR opperate voting systems or did it not do votinglol?


The Plurality electoral system*(or first past the post electoral system), is a voting system for single-member districts. The name "first past the post" (abbreviated FPTP or FPP) is an analogy to horse racing; the system is also variously called winner-take-all or relative majority. In political science, it is known as Single-Member District Plurality or SMDP. When this system is in use at all levels of politics it may result in a two-party system, based on single seat district voting systems. However, the system of forming a government is also crucial. It is used in some former British colonies [1] and is used in 43 of the 191 countries in the United Nations. Some believe the system results in stable government but it can elect a candidate who is opposed by a majority of voters.


Proportional representation (PR)** is any election system which ensures a proportionally representative result of a democratic election, x% of votes should be represented by x% in the democratic institutions, parliament or congress.

[redstar2000]

I am rather partial to demarchy as a way to run a communist society...

Democracy without Elections; Demarchy and Communism (http://www.redstar2000papers.com/theory.php?subaction=showfull&id=1083335872&archive=&cnshow=headlines&start_from=&ucat=&)

Further Notes on Demarchy (http://www.redstar2000papers.com/theory.php?subaction=showfull&id=1083543192&archive=&cnshow=headlines&start_from=&ucat=&)

http://www.websmileys.com/sm/cool/123.gif

[drain.you]

What the hell. Thats amazing :-O *enlightened*

i know that reply was fast, i haven't read the linked material yet, I went to wikipedia and read the page there :P

[Connolly]

Was wondering how elections would take place in a communist state?

First, there is no state in a communist society, second, since there is no state - is there a need for elections - since the democratic form would be the rule of the masses by the masses, not the rule of the masses by a democratically elected minority for the masses.

If you meant a socialist society, then, to truthfully say, I, nor anyone else can have a definite understanding of the organisational structure of a future socialist state - as it is in the future!!!! (unless you are a magical vanguardist, of which you would have the god like powers to understand your method actually leads to the withering away of the state and finally to communism).

To simply put it, in my view, you are using a mechanism used for the present social structure (elections), and placing it into future social structures because you have no knowledge of any other (because they havnt come into being, not that you yourself lack knowledge below anyone else). Simply, it is impossible to tell - unless certain material conditions arise - which they havnt yet. Of course, unless you are a vanguardist!!!