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Notes -
The central problem with FPTP is similar parties. Splitting on a single issue is usually electoral suicide, forcing your supporters to choose between a genuine vote for your party or a tactical vote for the one which might actually hit plurality. The more similar, the worse. You can imagine splitting a 66% majority evenly and losing your seat to the remaining 34%. More realistically, it gives you “spoiler” parties which peel 1 or 2 percent off whichever big boy they hate the least.
This sucks! As a voter, you can’t express your first preference without actively hurting your second. As a politician, you can’t break with your party, because you will never be rewarded with success outside their envelope.
There are also effects on ideological coherence. “Big tents” of unrelated policy are encouraged because coalition building happens before voting. As a result, some bizarre issues have been coupled together for historical reasons, and now we’re stuck with them. I would argue it’s also less responsive than allowing coalitions to form within the government.
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