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First Past the Post is the only option

Letter to the Editor by Dieter Bogs of Trail
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In September of 2017, Germany had an election while we were visiting relatives and friends.

Germany uses a proportional representation voting system. In the 2017 election Germany had 42 parties. Germany’s Parliament has 598 elected seats.

In the 2017 election, an extra 111 seats were appointed by various parties as a result of the proportional representation voting system.

The proportional representation extra seat calculation is very complicated and almost no one understands it. Some of the parties challenged the 2017 election calculation and the German Supreme Court agreed with the challenge.

The result is that in the 2021 election, the German Parliament could be at 800 politicians or some 202 additional seats alone to accommodate the Proportional Representation Voting System.

Some 25 per cent of Parliament will be non-elected party appointees who will make decisions for the country. The extra costs are also staggering. This is really unacceptable.

Since September 2017, Angela Merkel has had two coalition governments and a third one is on the horizon. The first coalition dissolved in November 2017. The second coalition took almost four months to form and is in trouble.

Angela Merkel has decided to retire before the next election.

The Germans I know are not happy with the politics in their country. There is a real fear of domestic stagnation.

Do we really want this to happen in British Columbia?

For me, First Past the Post is the only option.

Dieter Bogs

Trail