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If all parties allegedly believe in the goddess of democracy, then seats in the National Assembly should be proportional to the votes given to parties on a regional or national basis. Most European countries and Japan employ the PR system in one way or the other. For example, in the German Bundestag, half the seats are under PR and the other half by direct election.The PR system in a broad outline works as under: -
Each party before the election nominates a 'slate’ of its members in a preferential numerical order. The National Assembly has a total of 342 seats (which includes 60 reserved seats for women and 10 for minorities who are currently elected in proportion to seats won by the parties in the general election). If a party wins 20 per cent of the popular vote, the same number of seats on regional basis in the National Assembly will be allotted to the party.
The PR system has many advantages and some disadvantages. Be that as it may, it is a truer index of the voice of the nation. Consider: -
• Candidate’s wealth plays a much lesser part in the PR election. Since voting is for a party, not directly for an individual, contributions will be to the party and should be subject to tax concessions. A party worker of modest means, if high up on his party list, will have a better chance to be elected as opposed to a wealthy candidate at a lower slot in the same party list.
• The present system is distortive. For example, if candidate-A gets 150,000 votes and candidate-B 200 votes less than candidate-A, the winner enjoys all the benefits of membership (which are substantial) but candidate-B is left in oblivion. Is this fair? Under PR system both the A & B candidates if high up in their parties’ respective lists can get elected.
• P.R. will strengthen inter-party democracy by law. Currently no free or fair elections are held within the party, if at all. Witness the feudal mode of succession in the People’s Party. The same is true of most other parties. Inter party voting should be by secret ballot and held by the Election Commission. The key-stone in the arch of the PR system is to break or lessen dynastic politics by exposing dynasties to the vote of party members.
• Currently the party manifesto is simply forgotten the day after the election -- as a scrap of paper. Parties will be held better accountable than before, since it is a party programme being sold not the candidate’s election boast. The ruling party will be held accountable at election time in relation to its previous manifesto.
No system of public representation is perfect. But, a combination of the PR and 'first past the post’ has many advantages. Several combinations of mix are possible and should be explored for the future of our polity.