On Mastodon, another Australian informed me about RCV in Australia. I knew that Tasmania had a unique system, but I was under the impression the rest of the country was in the FPTP way.

Whenever we "up here" hear about Australian voting, we usually get the "forced voting" that gets 95% of the people to the polls.

Australia has similar issues with democracy as much as the rest of the democratic world. In that sense, I don't see Australia being a utopia with its forced vote or preferential ballot. We really need to get rid of the parties.

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The Canadian example is a bit of an anomaly. Its electoral system should cause an evolution towards two parties. Yet at least three parties earn seats federally and in most provincial elections. I cannot explain why this is happening.

But the provinces seem to be going in a two-party way. I can see forces building to force the Liberals and New Democrats to unite (or more likely, the New Democrats will disappear with more strategic voting).

A RCV vote (or proportional representation) should prevent that. But we need to go beyond that.

In a 16 year period, the people of British Columbia had three referenda to move that province from FPTP to PR. Each time the people rejected it. Then they complain at how the BC legislature does not represent the will of the people.

It is so hard to change systems. If we are going to invest the effort for serious change, it should be a serious change.