![alfiusdebux:
“Henri Matisse. View of Notre Dame, [1914] by Gandalf’s Gallery on Flickr.
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Henri Matisse. View of Notre Dame, [1914] by Gandalf’s Gallery on Flickr.
madocommie asked: Sort of a theoretical question but why do you think Canada has managed to maintain strong third parties for extended periods of time despite using First Past the Post, instead of ending up like the US with only two parties able to gain representation at the national level?
Canada has a parliamentary democracy. The US does not. That’s a big piece of the puzzle. Most parliamentary democracies have many parties. Even those who still use first past the post tend to have more than 2 parties (UK for example).
The way that Canada elects a PM vs US electing a president is fundamentally different. In Canada MP’s are elected all at once at an election, and how each party does with electing MP’s determines who becomes PM. It’s less of a focus on the individual leader, as it is on many local elections. To gain representation in parliament you only have to win 1 of over 300 small elections (most ridings have 100,000 people or so), so it’s not as much of a winner takes all system as in the USA.
There’s also issues of big money in politics way beyond of what goes on in other countries. Small parties just can’t compete with the 2 big established parties. And I believe the electoral college further establishes this focus on the 2 parties.
That’s why I feel the 2 party system is entrenched in the USA. Correct me if I’m wrong on any of these points.
That makes sense. I mean the US House of Representatives is also elected by local constituencies (of which there are 438), so it does seem kind of odd to me that third parties wouldn’t be able to gain strength at least in congress even if they couldn’t win the Presidency, but I guess maybe because congress just isn’t as important or in people’s minds as it would be in a parliamentary system, a party can’t hold onto stable support if it can’t contest the presidency.
It’s an interesting contrast, because afaik all the Canadian PMs have been from either the Liberal Party or whatever the contemporary iteration of the Conservative Party was at the time, so third parties in Canada have managed to survive despite not usually having a realistic chance to elect a PM.
you have to consider that in the Westminster system the executive branch is fused with the legislative branch. the PM and his cabinet are drawn from Parliament and answer to Parliament. in minority (or even small majority) governments third parties can have a lot of power despite not having the PM.
