I’ve always found it weird that not voting for the two major parties is considered “third party”. It’s sort of an explicit acceptance of having a two party state
Because the US has a constitutionally enshrined two-party system.
The constitution doesn’t mention the two-party system by name, but it defines an election system that can do nothing but create a two-party system.
That’s because it’s first-to-the-post: The winner takes it all, the loser gets nothing.
Take for example a situation where there are three parties. One is far left, one is center left, one is right. If 25% vote for far left, 35% vote for center left and 40% vote for right, it’s clear that the majority would favour a left candidate, but the right one will win.
This means, splitting the vote is a lost vote for your compromise candidate (e.g. a far left voter would prefer a center left one over a right one), so people vote for one of the major parties, which doesn’t allow third parties to ever emerge. Most people would just not risk voting for another candidate who has less chance to win.
A run-off system would drop out the least favoured candidates, giving people a choice to vote for a compromise candidate. This would allow people to be more risk-friendly with their first vote, which could allow a third-party candidate to actually make it into the run-off round.
A coalition-based system allows multiple parties to be in government at once. That would allow e.g. the far left and the left parties to form a coalition, which allows for finer compromises.
Take for example a situation where there are three parties. One is far left, one is center left, one is right. If 25% vote for far left, 35% vote for center left and 40% vote for right, it’s clear that the majority would favour a left candidate, but the right one will win.
Yeah, we have the exact same problem in Canada with our FPTP system :(. Canada is basically a two party state as well at the federal level. We do have additional parties like the Green Party and the NDP though and I wouldn’t want to refer to them as third parties. I guess where it works a bit better in Canada is that our smaller parties can create coalitions and/or have supply and confidence agreements that let them negotiate things in return for supporting the ruling party’s goals
FPTP is just an ancient, outdated system that really sucks. Unmitigated FPTP is mostly employed by countries that have been “alive” for too long without a major crisis that caused a new constitution to be passed. (And not only some measly amendments, but full re-writes).
I’ve always found it weird that not voting for the two major parties is considered “third party”. It’s sort of an explicit acceptance of having a two party state
Because the US has a constitutionally enshrined two-party system.
The constitution doesn’t mention the two-party system by name, but it defines an election system that can do nothing but create a two-party system.
That’s because it’s first-to-the-post: The winner takes it all, the loser gets nothing.
Take for example a situation where there are three parties. One is far left, one is center left, one is right. If 25% vote for far left, 35% vote for center left and 40% vote for right, it’s clear that the majority would favour a left candidate, but the right one will win.
This means, splitting the vote is a lost vote for your compromise candidate (e.g. a far left voter would prefer a center left one over a right one), so people vote for one of the major parties, which doesn’t allow third parties to ever emerge. Most people would just not risk voting for another candidate who has less chance to win.
A run-off system would drop out the least favoured candidates, giving people a choice to vote for a compromise candidate. This would allow people to be more risk-friendly with their first vote, which could allow a third-party candidate to actually make it into the run-off round.
A coalition-based system allows multiple parties to be in government at once. That would allow e.g. the far left and the left parties to form a coalition, which allows for finer compromises.
Yeah, we have the exact same problem in Canada with our FPTP system :(. Canada is basically a two party state as well at the federal level. We do have additional parties like the Green Party and the NDP though and I wouldn’t want to refer to them as third parties. I guess where it works a bit better in Canada is that our smaller parties can create coalitions and/or have supply and confidence agreements that let them negotiate things in return for supporting the ruling party’s goals
FPTP is just an ancient, outdated system that really sucks. Unmitigated FPTP is mostly employed by countries that have been “alive” for too long without a major crisis that caused a new constitution to be passed. (And not only some measly amendments, but full re-writes).
I mean, you have to accept reality even as you work to change it.