Glossary of Key Terms
BC-STV (British Columbia-Single Transferable Vote) - the form of the Single Transferable Vote electoral system recommended by the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform.
Cabinet - the collective term for the Ministers of the Crown who form the heads of the various government ministries like Finance, Attorney General, etc. By convention, cabinet members are drawn from the elected Members of the Legislative Assembly. It is the cabinet that represents the executive branch of government within the legislature and is directly responsible to the legislature.
Candidate - a person who contests an election, either as a party representative or as an independent.
Caucus - the name for the group of elected MLAs from a single party. Caucuses meet regularly as a group and usually function as a unit in the Legislative Assembly. Members of a party caucus can be expected to vote together on legislation and other matters before them.
Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform – an independent assembly of British Columbians created by the provincial government to examine different electoral systems and propose one it felt was best for British Columbia to use. Click here for more information on the Assembly.
Coalition Government - when two or more political parties join together in some kind of formal alliance. A coalition government usually will have cabinet ministers appointed from the parties that make up the coalition. Assuming the coalition parties comprise a majority of seats in the House, the coalition can function in the same manner as a majority government.
District Magnitude - the number of candidates to be elected from an electoral district. For example, DM=2 means that two candidates would be elected in that district, DM=3 means three would get elected. District magnitude under the current FPTP system is 1; under the proposed BC-STV system it would vary from DM=2 to DM=7.
Droop Quota - formula for determining how many votes a candidate must receive in order to be elected under the proposed BC-STV system. It is named after H.R. Droop, an English lawyer who invented it in 1868. The quota is:
For example, if there are 100,000 votes in a district that will elect three members, the quota is: 100,000 divided by 4 (that is, three members + 1), plus 1, which yields a quota of 25,001. So, in this example 25,001 votes would be needed to be elected. See more information here.
Electoral Boundaries Commission - an independent commission that makes recommendations to the Legislative Assembly about the areas, boundaries and names of the province's electoral districts. By law, commissions are appointed after every second general election. It is chaired by a judge or retired judge, and includes the province’s Chief Electoral Officer and one other member chosen by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. The most recent commission was in operation from December 2005 to February 2008. It was directed to make recommendations for electoral boundaries under both our current electoral system and the proposed BC-STV system. The Legislature enacted boundaries for our current system based on recommendations and alternate proposals made by the commission. For the 2009 election, there are 85 single-member electoral districts in the province. The proposed electoral map under BC-STV would contain 20 multi-member electoral districts.
Electoral Quota - the quota used under a Single Transferable Vote to determine how many votes a candidate must receive in order to be elected. See Droop Quota.
First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) - the common term for the current electoral system in British Columbia. Voters choose one candidate in each electoral district, and the candidate with the most votes wins that district's seat. Its formal name is Single Member Plurality.
House - commonly-used term for the Legislative Assembly.
Legislative Assembly - the assembly of elected members (currently 79 in B.C.). Often referred to as "the House", a reference to the British House of Commons. The Legislative Assembly is one of the three branches of government, along with the executive and the judiciary. The Assembly is responsible for debating and approving the legislation and budget initiatives of the executive branch, which is represented in the Legislative Assembly by the Cabinet.
Legislature - often used interchangeably with "Legislative Assembly", the Legislature properly speaking includes the cabinet and the Lieutenant-Governor.
Lieutenant-Governor - the Queen's representative in British Columbia. He or she carries out the duties of the monarch according to Canada's constitution, including both ceremonial and substantive tasks. For example, the Lieutenant Governor gives royal assent to bills passed by the Legislative Assembly, dissolves the Legislative Assembly at election time, and calls upon the leader of the victorious political party after an election to form a government.
Majoritarian System - an electoral system that requires the winning candidate to have an absolute majority of votes - that is, more than 50% of the total votes cast. The Alternative Vote system used in Australia and "run-off" systems that may require a second round of voting are examples of majoritarian systems.
Majority Government - when a single party wins more than 50% of the seats in a legislative assembly. Assuming its caucus members vote in support of their own party, the government does not need to obtain voting support from other parties in the assembly in order to pass legislation and other measures.
Minority Government - when no one party has a majority of seats in a legislative assembly. In order to pass legislation and other measures, that government would need the support of at least some members of other parties in the assembly.
MLA - Member of the Legislative Assembly. There are currently 79 MLAs. MLAs perform a variety of functions. They debate and vote on bills, budget items and other measures that come before the Legislative Assembly. They also represent their constituents in the Assembly by asking questions to cabinet ministers, presenting petitions and raising issues of local concern. MLAs maintain offices in their electoral districts and provide advice and information services to their constituents. For more information on the role and duties of MLAs, visit the Legislative Assembly's website, and click on "Members".
Plurality System - an electoral system that requires that the winning candidate receive more votes than any other candidate.
Proportional System - an electoral system that ensures a close relationship between the popular vote a party receives and the number of candidates it elects. The proposed BC-STV system is an example of a proportional system.
Pure P.R. - this is a proportional representation electoral model that gives a strictly proportional result: a party's share of seats will match exactly its share of the popular vote. Under this system, this is just one ballot for the entire country, province, or state, and voters vote for parties rather than candidates.
Quota - see Electoral Quota
Seat - one of the 85 places in the Legislative Assembly. A successful candidate is often described as having "won the seat" in an electoral district.
Single Member Plurality - the technical name for the current electoral system in British Columbia. See First-Past-the-Post.
Weighted Inclusive Gregory Method (WIGM) – the formal name of the vote-counting method that would be used for the BC-STV electoral system. WIGM was proposed as the counting method for BC-STV by the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform.
