Winning and losing

By Jason Moore ALTHOUGH those people who believe in proportional representation should take note; it doesn't work. It just causes more political upheaval and uncertainty and some ways discriminates the larger parties. Take Spain, where Prime Minister Zapatero and his socialist government, who were by far the most voted party, have been forced to make alliances with radical smaller parties who command far more power than their strength in the ballot box. Germany's political system is even more complicated but one thing for sure the majority of Germans wanted political stability as the country attempts to pull itself out of recession. The worst example of proportional representation happened in the Balearics where the most voted party (by far) spent four years in opposition, because it was a few thousand votes short of an overall majority. Is this democracy? Its like backing the winner in the Grand National and then losing your bet. There has to be winners and losers. You can't have losers who are then winners because they got a couple of thousand votes. Once you've pacted then you have to keep your bed-mate happy, as Sr. Zapatero is doing with the radical Catalan Republic Party (ERC). They were one of the prime movers behind Cataluña being declared a nation. Their parliament this week gave the proposal the green light and now Zapatero must juggle the demands of his Catalan partners with the wishes of the rest of the country who are not too pleased with the “one nation” move. A successful government, I believe, needs a majority not an enormous one but enough to make the system of government work without having to make unacceptable alliances.