<story><title>German Pirate Party Scores Second State Victory</title><url>http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/german-pirate-party-election-304058</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jellicle</author><text>For the political hackers: note that these victories are made possible by Germany&apos;s proportional representation system, which guarantees seats in parliaments to any party which gets more than 5% of the popular vote across the state/city/whatever.  Thus parties with broad but shallow support do get represented in government.&lt;p&gt;The electoral systems in the UK-derived nations (geographic districts only, first past the post) expressly prohibit such broad-but-shallow movements from ever being represented in government.  If the Pirate Party in a U.S. state got the same percent of the vote, they would end up with precisely zero seats in the legislature.  Even if they got double that percent of the vote, they would end up with precisely zero seats in the legislature.  Triple?  Still zero.  The U.S. electoral system is an extremely conservative one, which prevents new political movements from ever being heard in government.  There are better ones, such as Germany&apos;s.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>cabalamat</author><text>&amp;#62; The electoral systems in the UK-derived nations (geographic districts only, first past the post) expressly prohibit such broad-but-shallow movements from ever being represented in government.&lt;p&gt;This is true for the Westminster parliament. It is not true for other elected bodies in the UK, which use the following electoral systems, and with the approximate share of the vote you need to get elected:&lt;p&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;   London Assembly, MMP (as Germany), 5%
   Scottish Parliament, MMP, c. 6%
   Welsh Assembly, MMP, c. 8%
   Northern Ireland assembly, 6 member STV, c. 10%
   NI local government, 6 member STV, c. 10%
   Scottish local government, 3-4 member STV, c. 13%
   European parliament, 
      1 STV constituency and 11 closed lists,
      varies between c. 8% and 17% 
&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
Incidentally, I am a Pirate Party UK candidate standing in Edinburgh this May -- &lt;a href=&quot;http://edinburgh.pirateparty.org.uk/&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http://edinburgh.pirateparty.org.uk/&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>German Pirate Party Scores Second State Victory</title><url>http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/german-pirate-party-election-304058</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jellicle</author><text>For the political hackers: note that these victories are made possible by Germany&apos;s proportional representation system, which guarantees seats in parliaments to any party which gets more than 5% of the popular vote across the state/city/whatever.  Thus parties with broad but shallow support do get represented in government.&lt;p&gt;The electoral systems in the UK-derived nations (geographic districts only, first past the post) expressly prohibit such broad-but-shallow movements from ever being represented in government.  If the Pirate Party in a U.S. state got the same percent of the vote, they would end up with precisely zero seats in the legislature.  Even if they got double that percent of the vote, they would end up with precisely zero seats in the legislature.  Triple?  Still zero.  The U.S. electoral system is an extremely conservative one, which prevents new political movements from ever being heard in government.  There are better ones, such as Germany&apos;s.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>twelvechairs</author><text>&amp;#62; The electoral systems in the UK-derived nations (geographic districts only, first past the post)&lt;p&gt;Not sure &apos;UK-derived nations&apos; is a very accurate description. New Zealand for one, has a mixed-member proportional system similar to Germany. Australia has preferential voting (not first past the post) and an upper house with proportional representation. I&apos;m sure other commonwealth states must have diversity in voting systems also, despite being otherwise &apos;UK-derived&apos;.</text></comment>