Tell Me About First-Past-the-Post and BC-STV
Here is the simplest definition of what an electoral system, or voting system, is:
Electoral system:
The process for translating votes into seats in a legislative assembly.
There are a number of different electoral systems in use around the world, and no two countries' systems are identical. The choice for British Columbia voters in this referendum is between the current First-Past-the-Post system and BC-STV.
First-Past-the-Post
Our current system is popularly known as First-Past-the-Post (or FPTP). Its technical name is Single Member Plurality. It is a plurality system. Under this system, there is one elected member for each of the province’s 85 electoral districts, and voters vote for one candidate only by marking an “x” next to their preferred candidate.
Whoever gets the most votes in an electoral district (that is, gets a plurality of votes) wins the seat for that electoral district and becomes the district's MLA. The political party that wins the most seats usually forms the government.
FPTP is regarded as a system that:
- encourages fewer, larger political parties
- tends to produce majority governments, particularly if there are two dominant political parties
- is simple to use and understand
- maintains a link between a single elected representative and voters in his or her constituency.
BC-STV
The proposed BC-STV is a form of the Single Transferable Vote system. It is an electoral system that is designed to produce a fairly proportional result -- that is, the number of seats a political party wins will be close to its share of the overall popular vote.
Under BC-STV, voters would elect between 2 and 7 MLAs per electoral district, depending on the district size and population. The number of MLAs would not change, but there would be 20 geographically larger electoral districts. Voters would vote by ranking preferences for as many candidates as they wished to support (1, 2, 3, etc.). To be elected, a candidate must reach a certain threshold (or quota) of votes.
All voters’ first preferences are counted, with further rounds of counting used to transfer voters’ second, third, etc. preferences from candidates that are elected with a surplus of votes, or that are dropped from the ballot because they have received the fewest votes, to candidates that are still on the ballot. The counting process continues until all the seats in the district have been filled.
BC-STV is regarded as a system that:
- gives voters a lot of choices on the ballot at elections
- produces largely proportional results
- is more likely to produce minority or coalition governments
- maintains a link between multiple MLAs and voters in larger constituencies.
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Show Me A Quick Comparison
Electoral Districts Information and Maps
The Ballot
Counting the Votes
Glossary of Key Terms
Frequently Asked Questions
