Vote Splitting, an Issue n Our Political System
In every democracy new parties emerge to attempt to topple the current 2 party system. These attempts are based on good faith, but they never succeed. Take the Patriot Party in the United States as an example. Not even within 2 weeks of the party’s formation did people quickly rush to make shirts, hats and anything they could think of to try and make money off the idea. You cannot try and form a political party to escape grifters and corrupt politicians, it is better to accept this as part of the game and live with it and if you can’t, well then reform your own party.
All new parties do is split the current vote and it usually takes several election cycles before a new party can replace the old one. Think about it as buying a new computer. You love one option which has many cool features and a good base, however you dislike it’s parts and some of it could be changed and fixed. Your other option is having a completely broken computer that doesn’t work, and would cost more to repair than a new computer. That is the choice that we are left with. We can either reform our current Conservative Party and win an election or let the Liberals win several elections until we get a ‘new party’ which will eventually dissolve into the same issues as previously.
We have to come to terms with the fact that all parties are not perfect and to some extent parties have to change to fit what the public believes. You may think that these parties don’t do much harm but here are some stats from certain ridings that would prove otherwise. In 2019, in the riding of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo the Conservatives won with 44.7%. The Liberals had 27.2% of the vote, the NDP had 13.7% and the Green Party had 12.1%. If it were not for the NDP and the Green Party splitting the vote, this riding would’ve possibly been won by the Liberal party. It is a great thing that such a thing is not a reality for right-wing parties, but it soon could be. At the end of the day it is your choice on whether you want to let a party that you despise win, or have a party that you may disagree with on a few issues win. The choice is yours.
