By David Cochrane
Published January 8th 2004 in Politics.ie
The Green Party claimed today that the constituency boundary changes proposed by the Constituency Commission favour large parties.
Green Party Party Chairman, John Gormley, T.D., said that there are now eighteen three seat constituencies and twelve five seat constituencies, making it more difficult for small parties and independents to make a break-through. He claimed, however, that the changes as proposed would not materially affect the chances of the Green Party in retaining their existing Dáil seats.
"In particular, the Constituency Commission's report is good news for Green TD Paul Gogarty whose Dublin Mid-West constituency has been increased to a four seater. This will increase his chances of re-election. The other Green Party constituencies have not changed to any great extent. Generally speaking, however, it is the Green Party view that proportional representation works better in larger constituencies."
"In recent years there has been a clear trend of moving away from five seat constituencies and this is regrettable. The recent democratic changes clearly suit the Green Party with more younger people, particularly younger parents with children, beginning to vote. This trend is set to continue and will no doubt yield strong results for the party."
"The reduction of Dublin North Central from a four to a three seat constituency will make any break-through there more difficult and similarly in Meath, which was another potential seat for the Greens. However, Kildare North, which is now a four seater, becomes a distinct possibility. At the last election the Green Party targeted seats which yielded good results and this strategy will continue in the run up to the next General Election," Deputy Gormley concluded.
Election Day '09 was a roller-coaster for election reformers. Instant runoff voting had a great night in Minnesota, where St. Paul voters chose to implement IRV for its city elections, and Minneapolis voters used IRV for the first time—with local media touting it as a big success. As the Star-Tribune noted in endorsing IRV for St. Paul, Tuesday’s elections give the Twin Cities a chance to show the whole state of Minnesota the benefits of adopting IRV. There were disappointments in Lowell and Pierce County too, but high-profile multi-candidate races in New Jersey and New York keep policymakers focused on ways to reform elections; the Baltimore Sun and Miami Herald were among many newspapers publishing commentary from FairVote board member and former presidential candidate John Anderson on how IRV can mitigate the problems of plurality elections.