One of the most critical priority for any democracy is to improve its electoral system and start using a much better voting method.
This article is a stub. You can help by expanding it. You can join and suggest improvements or edits to this page.
Plurality voting is a very common voting method, but one with many severe flaws.
There are two main aspects to plurality voting:
The traditional definition of plurality voting insists on the tallying aspect of this voting method, and on the fact that the candidate who got a plurality of the votes is elected. Tallying the votes is indeed extremely simple and straightforward.
The most critical aspect, however, and the one with the most nefarious consequences, is the actual ballot, and how the voters are instructed to use it to express their opinions. Most critically, among a multitude of candidates, the voters are only allowed to select one and one only. One major problem is that voters are not given the opportunity to express their opinions on each and every candidates. Voters may very well like several of the competing candidates. They may even be forced to abandon their favourite candidate, and they often do, in order to vote for a much less liked candidates, but who has more chances to get elected, against another much despised candidate. This is the lesser-of-two-evils effect.
As explained in Duverger's Law, the effect of plurality voting is to split the electorate into two broad camps. It results in negative campaigning, more extreme candidates and a much deteriorated political climate, which is all covered in the Duverger Syndrome.
The Duverger Syndrome is democracies' most critical illness. Both the causes and the fixes are known. Solutions must be applied as a matter of priority.
Plurality voting refers to electoral systems in which a candidate in an electoral district who polls more than any other (that is, receives a plurality) is elected.