Friday 29 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on July 9, 2018 - July 15, 2018

AFTER six decades of manipulation, the electoral system needs deep reforms to ensure that it is clean and fair. To get a handle on the challenges involved in improving the way political leaders and governments are elected, The Edge talks to political analyst Dr Wong Chin Huat.

This is the first of several articles exploring the election system, based on his presentation to the Institutional Reforms Committee.

 

Part 1

The Edge: Why does the election system need to be changed?

Wong Chin Huat: Elections in Malaysia have become more of a ritual of legitimising the incumbent rather than an open field for voters to choose their representatives and governments.

 

What are the functions of an electoral system?

It is simply a system that translates votes into seats. In turn, this determines how elected offices are allocated. An electoral system also decides how voters’ preferences may be captured.

 

What are some common election systems used around the world?

Malaysia uses the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system, which asks voters to choose one candidate. This makes voters choose candidates as proxies for parties.

Australia has the alternative vote, where a preferential ballot allows voters to rank their choice of candidates.

The mixed-member proportional system in Germany and the mixed-member majoritarian system in Japan allow voters to separate their preferences for individual candidates and parties.

The party-list proportional representation system in Indonesia allows voters to choose only parties.

 

What’s wrong with the first-past-the-post system?

The key word here is ‘wasted votes’, that is, votes that are not translated into seats. By producing a high number of wasted votes, a winner-takes-all electoral system like FPTP mercilessly penalises the losers.

 

Can the election system be changed without the support of two-thirds of members of parliament?

The FPTP system can be changed to Australia’s alternative vote or France’s two-round system merely by amending the Elections Act 1958 without amendments to the Federal Constitution.

Articles 116 and 117 of the federal charter only stipulate one characteristic of the electoral system — single-member constituencies. Malaysian voters only get to choose their preferred candidate in a parliamentary or state seat.

 

How do we go about changing the election system?

Fixing the electoral system will need a consensus among parties. Building this consensus should begin with a clearly mandated parliamentary select committee or Royal Commission of Inquiry.

Obtaining a two-thirds majority should not be a hurdle. If the new system will be fairer on the opposition parties, they will have no reason to block it.

 

What reforms to the electoral process can be taken right away?

Quite a few: registration of voters and cleaning up the electoral roll, nomination and campaigning, absentee voting, polling and counting, neutrality of the caretaker government and party finance.

Few, if any constitutional amendments, are needed to carry these out and they should not be held back.

A lot of research and deliberation have taken place, including by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Electoral Reforms in 2011-12, so the reform of the electoral process can be adopted promptly, within the first six months, if not the first 100 days.

 

What important matters do election systems address?

An electoral system has implications on four important matters — party system, composition and autonomy of lawmakers, electoral coordination and susceptibility to manipulation.

 

What matters are addressed by the choice of party system?

The party system that a country installs determines two issues:

•    How many parties can be viable?

•    How do they compete?

 

What about the composition and autonomy of lawmakers?

The composition and autonomy of lawmakers concerns three questions:

•    Do they represent the various segments of society? (This is about the need to ensure, for example, that women, minorities and marginalised groups are fairly represented.)

•    Do they represent geographical interests, functional interests or both? (Grouping voters by geography or function influences the division of labour among MPs and in the quality of lawmaking.)

•    Do they enjoy enough autonomy from their parties to not toe the party line when necessary? (Party discipline and recipient of electoral mandate.)

 

How does an electoral system become prone to manipulation?

If an election system produces a high number of wasted votes, then the outcomes can be easily manipulated if the wasted votes can be moved around.

Moving voters around is what delimitation is all about — letting politicians choose voters, rather than letting voters choose politicians.

 

Besides the election system, what are the other key aspects of a political system?

An electoral system is one of three key pillars of a political system. The other two are separation of powers (among the legislative, executive and judiciary) and division of power (among the national, state and local governments).

 

What questions do citizens need to ask about the political system?

The big question is how voters can encourage politically ambitious people to compete among themselves for public office in order to benefit society.

These political hopefuls would have to form some groups to compete and decide who gets what powers. In doing so, their groups would have to take up some issues and ideological positions to attract voters.

Next come the questions: How many groups would we like to see — one, two, a few or many?

What issues and ideological positions do we want to see them pursuing and how do we encourage them to do so?

What issues and ideological positions do we not want to see them pursuing and how do we discourage them from doing so?

Who among these groups would we want to see winning public positions?

How do we expect the society to respond to their competition?

 

Next: Malpractices and flaws under the first-past-the-post system

 

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