BC used a mixed systme of Block Voting and FPTP from 1950s to 1990. It changed from the mixed BV/FPTP system of Block Voting to pure-FPTP in 1990.
The NDP from 1979 to 1996 seemed to get a smaller vote share but more seats.
The change in voting system did not make a difference -- Block Voting is just as unfair as single-winner FPTP.
But troubling is how BC voters accepted that a party taking government or not seemed to be independent of the party's vote share.
From 1979 to 1996, the vote share the BC NDP received dropped by ten percent, but in 1996 the NDP took enough seats to be majority government.
With a smaller share of the votes cast, they rose from official opposition to majority government (a false-majority government as they did not have majority of the votes).
1979 NDP took 49 percent othe vote and was held to 26 seats -- Offifical Opposition.
1983 NDP took 45 percent of the vote 22 seats - Official Opposition
1986 NDP took 43 percent of the vote 22 seats - Official Opposition
1991 NDP took 41 percent of the vote 51 seats - Majority government
1996 NDP took 39 percent of the vote 39 seats - Majority government
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Social Credit party
From 1983 to 1986 the Social Credit party actually did the same -- took a smaller vote share and got more seats.
(Likely part of this seat rise was due to the government's re-engineering of the seats. Gerrymandering seems to be part of the reason for the change from 1983's 7 two-seat districts and 43 single-seat districts to 1986's 17 two-seat districts and 33 single-member districts. then with the dropping of multi-member districts all together in 1990, the NDP swung into poser with less than half the votes.
The Social Credit party
1983 49.8 percent of the vote 35 seats - majority government
1986 49.3 percent of the vote 47 seats - majority government
1991 24 percent of the vote 7 seats (not even Official Opposition).
Other notes:
1979 NDP took 46 percent of the vote 26 seats
When its popularity dropped by one percent in 1983, it lost 4 seats, but that was just random result. Later its popularity dropped even more and it won more seats.
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29 seats needed for a majority in BC in 1983
35 seats needed for a majority in BC in 1986
38 seats needed for a majority in BC in 1991
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The NDP vote tally did fluctuate over this period:
1986 824,000
1991 595,000
1996 624,000
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1986 BC election electoral system
Besides 35 single-member districts, 17 two-member constituencies were used in this election. Voters in these places were allowed two votes (Block Voting), and generally used them both on the same party, with the largest group (even if not a majority) taking both seats.
Only one district elected both a SC and a NDP MLA. This was Vancouver-Point Grey where two women, an NDP member and a Socred (Kim Campbell, later a Canadian prime minister), were elected.
All other districts elected either two Socreds (12 districts) or two NDP members (four districts), with no representation given to the minority vote in the district. That helped ensure the government's capture of the most seats.
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