New poll: Is 1996 election repeating itself?
April 29, 2009 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New poll: is history repeating itself?
Liberal 42 per cent - NDP 39 per cent produced NDP majority in 1996
Vancouver, B.C. – Angus Reid polling numbers released today are remarkably similar to the results of the 1996 election which produced a majority government for the second place finisher and rocketed electoral reform on to the political agenda in BC.
According to data released today, the Liberals led by Premier Gordon Campbell have the support of 42 per cent of the electorate, the same percentage Mr. Campbell received in 1996. The poll also puts NDP leader Carole James at 39 per cent support today, the same percentage the NDP received in 1996 when they came in second yet formed a majority government.
“It was when those results were announced on election night in 1996 that many people, including the current Premier I believe, started to seriously look at electoral reform in BC,” said Bruce Hallsor, past president of Fair Voting BC. “Under our flawed first-past-the post system we can get these 39 per cent majorities for second place parties, or things like the near wipe-out of all opposition in 2001. Neither situation was a fair result or representative of what the people actually voted for.”
The skewed results of the 1996 and 2001 campaigns were the focus of a new TV ad launched by the BC-STV campaign yesterday. In the past three elections, all of the main political parties in British Columbia have fallen victim to the flaws of the current system:
* Liberal voters will remember the majority that was awarded to their opponents despite capturing the popular vote in 1996.
* New Democrats will remember being reduced to only two of 79 seats in 2001 despite winning a far higher proportion of the votes.
* For Green voters, the current system means that every election hundreds of thousands of votes for the Greens go unrepresented in Victoria.
“That’s why the Citizens’ Assembly chose STV as the best electoral system for British Columbia and why thousands of British Columbians are lining up to support it today,” says Shoni Field, former member of the Citizen’s Assembly on Electoral Reform. “People from all political stripes remember these flawed results and they want the system fixed. They also want something that has been recommended by people like them, and not the backroom party operatives that have so much invested in the current system. With BC-STV, they’ll finally get fair election results.”
On May 12, in a province wide referendum on electoral reform, voters will have a chance to make history and change the way politicians are elected. British Columbians will choose between the current “first-past-the-post” system and the STV system that was recommended overwhelmingly by the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform. In the last election, BC-STV received more votes than any political party, nearly 58 per cent. However, the referendum requires 60 per cent approval to be adopted by the government.
British Columbians for BC-STV is the official proponent of the single transferable vote (STV) system, as proposed by the BC Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform in 2004. More information about the STV system and how British Columbians can get involved in the campaign is available at www.stv.ca or by calling 1-866-835-7612. Voters can also join the online discussion about electoral reform through the Facebook group “Yes for BC-STV” and www.twitter.com/BCSTV.
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For more information please contact:
Joanna Wyatt
604-970-3236