Very OT; a question for Aud

"emerald" skrev i melding news:naXfe.1300000$8l.726072@pd7tw1no...

I hope I explain this correct and understandable: Norway is divideed in 19 Fylker (districts) Each Fylke has their number of deputies. Each person over 18 years can vote. The "persentage" votes for the different political parties, tells the how many deputies from each party will come to "Stortinget", which is the Norwegian Parliament.

If there, in more of the vote districts, the SAME political Party NEARLY win one more deputy, but do NOT; we will see in an "all over" counting that this can turn out to be unfair.

The number of deputies , if you compaire the districts, can also be unfair. There are a few "adjusting -deputies" which are "lotted out(??evened out)" after the election to prevent this.

This way of voting, and how to find a better way, is continual discussed, especially around the elections. We want the number of deputies from each Party, to be fair, compaired with the number of people who voted.

But different parts of the country have different needs, and ARE different, so we want to have people to represent US "here", with OUR point of views.

It is difficult to get these concerns together.

AUD ;-|

A number of years ago (around twenty perhaps) I was able to talk with Gro Haarlem Brundtland (spelling?) about this when she was at a conference in Washington DC and staying in the same small hotel. She said that her party would put men and women alternately on their list of candidates. Is that still the practice? That resulted in much better representation of women in the parliament. (Our state legislature is quite evenly balanced between men and women but Congress is not - though there are more women there than there were 20 years ago) I remember being very impressed by her - I can understand why she was a very successful in her political life.

"JCT" skrev i melding news: snipped-for-privacy@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...

Yes, it still is a point that women should be equal represented, and it is important who are the first persons at the top of the lists. Today men and women mostly are alternating on the lists in several parties, but not on all. One of the lists I saw for the election this autumn had nr. 1: a man, nr.2 and 3: women. Now the persentage of women in the parliament is a little less than 40, and in the government, there are 8 women out of 19. It could have been better, we have many qualified and smart female polititians! Yes Gro (we all call her just that; and your spelling is nearly correct! Just Harlem with one a) did a very good job, both as prime minister and in her other positions. She is taken as a model fot lots of women, both they who agree, and they who NOT agree with her politically! Aud ;-))

Ah Eimear, I can see that you are thinking about the upcoming elections. The BCSTV referendum, needs to be voted on. To bad that it gets so little attention. As far as I know there are two other countries where this system is being used. New Zealand and the Netherlands. It means most of the time that you have coalition governments. It means that you have to work together more. Not always an easy thing with different parties in a governement. However on the other hand, you get a much better reprecentation of what the voters want. Even though a party may get more popular votes, it often looses out on seats in parliament. With this system, there will be a better balance of elected reprecentatives in goverment and also a balanced opposition. With the way things are now, we do not even have an opposition. No matter who is in power, it is always healthy to have a balance of political opinion on the other side.

Happy voting....LOL

Els

X-No-Archive: yes "Aud" wrote

Thank you for a very good explanation Aud! I think those concerns are everywhere and we have a referendum next week on a "new" (for here) method of voting. We currently use the same system as the UK. The system under consideration is one that I am familiar with, since it was how things worked in Ireland, but I have heard so many people comment that it is too complicated, too difficult to understand, they are frightened of a possible change and so on........or worse, that they haven't tried to learn anything about it.

The politicians certainly don't want any changes.......so maybe we, the people, should! :-))

Eimear

Els, I wasn't aware this system was in use in the Netherlands. I certainly think we need some form of proportional representation and agree with you about the need for balance and strong opposition - it's way better for us.

Eimear

Eimear, I wasn't back online when you came to the newsgroup (I'm assuming, because I don't remember seeing you before I left), so please forgive my being nosey. Where do you live now... (country, state, province.... whatever you wish to share)?

Gemini

Hi Gemini, You're right, I'm just beyond new person status! LOL! I've been on the ng for about six or seven months. At the time, due to assorted "stuff", I felt the need for the comfort of wool in my hands but I was feeling very rusty in my knitting and crochet, so I joined to learn and "meet" some kindred spirits.

I live far to the west and (?) a little to the north of you - in Duncan, BC, on Vancouver Island. Actually I live just a few miles north of Els whom I've had the great pleasure of meeting in person.

Eimear

Ready set go on Tuesday Eimear. I have voted already. Otto is going to be a scrutineer on Tuesday all day, so we voted ahead of time. There is certainly a lot going on, on the political scene in Canada at the moment. No dull moment at any time, LOL

Els

That pleasure is mutual Eimear

Els

What are you voting for on Tuesday, Els? We have a federal by election here on May 24th, but I didn't know that there were any others happening. Or is it provincial for you?

Katherine

Ah, okay! My second sister actually lives in Sardis, BC (where you can sit on her deck at the back of her house and see Mount Baker looming over you). Although I enjoyed visiting her and seeing the mountains for the first time... I have to admit that I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the mountains in my rear-view mirror when we left there to head home to Ontario. I became claustrophobic after only a couple of days there in the valley, but stuck it out for 1 1/2 weeks for my Mom's sake.... I like my wide open spaces, with some hills for a variety. ;o)

I live in a small town about 7 miles from Lake Huron to the north of us, and about 30 miles from the Michigan border to the west of us. Near enough to a couple of cities (Sarnia - 30 miles & London - 45 miles) to go shopping when we want and have the money to, but far enough away that we aren't affected by the pollution. In fact the only foul air we have to deal with is when the pig farmers a couple of miles out the road clean out the barns and the wind is blowing toward town.... then we hideout in the house for a few hours. LOL The air is most often very clean and fresh here (except for those few days now and then). When my cousin used to come here to visit in the summer when we were teens, she would sleep for the first three days... she always said the fresh air knocked her out! ;o)

Gem

Katherine this is indeed a provincial election, we have had 4 years of a West Coast liberal government. It is interesting to note that the BC Provincial Liberals have very little to do with the federal Liberals. They are more like the old Credity party (spelling) closer to Harpers party. We did not have an opposition in this parliament, the NDP held one seat. Also we have to vote on the referendum on a new way of electing representatives or as it is called BCSTV British Columbia Single Transfer Vote. That is what Eimear was asking Aud about. Lets see what happens on Tuesday. The issues are the same as across Canada. Health, Education, environment etc, and also loss of jobs in the fishing idustry and in the lumber industry, even though we are not doing badly in some cases. Time will tell. Els

Well, I'll be watching to see what happens.

Katherine

X-No-Archive: yes "Matthew Hollands" wrote

I can relate! There are certain areas of BC that I find claustrophobic too, such as Golden and Revelstoke - gorgeous in the summer but I can't imagine wanting to be there in the snow. I lived on the prairies for several years but found it a bit too flat, though my MIL loves her horizons to be sixty miles away in every direction. Where I am now is perfect for me, with rolling hills, many trees, lots of water and not much snow. Mind you, if I won the lotto, I'd like winter home in Hawaii too! :-))

Eimear

You, me and Eimear that is three.....With the CBC in the sidelines LoL

Els

TTFN Katherine

No, I doubt that I would want it that flat either. I like my area... a good mixture of things all around. :o)

Wouldn't we all? ;o)

Gemini