This morning the Prime Minister will be asked in the National Assembly to explicate his ideas on electoral reforms to which he referred in his address to the country on March 12th. By sheer coincidence today the British justice Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, is publishing a draft constitutional reform bill that will overhaul the British electoral legislation. It will incorporate the Alternate Voting system with ballot papers making provision for a second preference vote which would be redistributed from the lowest scoring candidate?s share until one candidate has more than 50% of the votes cast. This decision has been triggered by the proposed reform of the British House of Lords which will elect its members by proportional voting system. The House of Commons cannot remain an anachronism with its First Past The Post (FPTP) system. In recent British General elections, some members have been returned to Parliament with less than 35 % of the votes.

Our own FPTP suffers from the inequity of the number of seats secured by a party not being remotely proportional to the number of votes cast in favour of the party- an unjust and frustrating outcome for democracy.

We have had our fair share of discussions and deliberations on our electoral system with conferences, seminars, group discussions and even a doctoral thesis highlighting the inherent weakness of our present system. The Sachs Commission Report remains a valid and well documented reference and should form the basis for further decision. Leaders of political parties have the unique opportunity to live up to the challenge and build a national consensus on the issue or put an end once for all on sterile discussions and meretricious posturings.