Vote For MMP! The Election Results Edition...

Here, for your information, is a comparison of the votes cast in the last 5 Ontario Elections to the seats given to the parties in the legislature under our current First Past the Post electoral system.


The results for the party that formed the government are in bold (all "majority" governments, all with less than 50% of the votes) and what I see as the most egregious examples of the skewing of the Legislature by FPTP are in red (Governments which had more than 60% of the power with less than 50% of the vote, or more than 50% of the power with less than 40% of the vote!!!).


Interestingly (and I was surprised!) the current Liberal government was actually helped MORE by FPTP than Bob Rae's 37.6% "majority" in 1990. Despite not being able to get 50% of the vote, McGuinty's Liberals have 70% of the seats at Queen's Park (well, 69.9, but you'll forgive my rounding!). As you're probably aware, despite Ontario's tradition of "majority" governments, the last time a single party actually won a TRUE majority (i.e. actually had more than 50% of the votes) was in 1937. And, TECHNICALLY, that 1937 majority (with 51.6% of the votes) was actually a combination of the votes of the Liberal Party, the Liberal-Progressive Party, and the United Farmers. Making the 1934 election the last time a TRULY single party won a majority of the votes in Ontario.

ETA: The 1987 Liberal government should be in red too! (47.3% of the vote, 73% of the power!), but I can't be bothered to edit the image now!

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