Forget constituencies and MPs, here’s what will fix all our problems

We are accustomed to tossing the word “democracy” with such abandon, we often forget democracy is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. Democracy is supposed to be a facilitating mechanism, the idea being that everyone should have an equal say in how their country is run.

Unfortunately, millions of Kenyans have been continuously denied that right by our unfair voting system. Since independence, Kenyans are used to single member constituency winner takes it all system of election that has now become a tradition. In fact, it is outside our imagination that there is a better and fairer system of election.

It is imperative of free democracy that every vote counts. In order to achieve this imperative, we need to change our electoral system from the “single member constituency winner takes it all” to a fairer elections system based on proportional representation where every vote counts.

Different ideology

Proportional representation is underpinned by two basic principles that all voters deserve representation and that all political groups founded on different ideology deserve to be represented in our legislative assemblies in proportion to their strength on electorate. The effect of this is that every vote counts.

The question is; how does proportional representation work? First, it uses multi-member constituencies like counties. Instead of electing one person in each constituency, several people are elected in a multi-member constituency or county. These multi-member constituencies or counties may be relatively small like Lamu County with only three National Assembly members or they may be large like Nairobi City County with seventeen members of the National Assembly.

Proportional representation system of election requires that electorates in a multi-member county will vote for various parties presenting a list of candidates in that county. The parties will then win seats in a multi-member county according to the proportion of votes received by the party.

That is, if the candidates of a party win 40 percent the vote in a 10 member county, they receive four of the ten seats or 40 percent of the seats. If another party gets 20 percent of the votes, they get two seats and so on. In effect, the overall goal of proportional representation is to ensure that all voters receive some representation and that all parties are represented fairly. The minority deserve representation just as much as the majority.

Countries that are currently using proportional system of election include: Rwanda, Algeria, Angola, Burkina Faso, Denmark, Israel, Mozambique, Namibia, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Togo, Tunisia.

Wider benefits have been identified in countries using proportionate representation as compared to those using first-past-the post (FPTP). These include a higher score in the UN Human Development Index, a measure of health, education and personal security, higher economic growth, and better environmental protection.

The winner

In Kenya there was stability, peace and growth during the coalition government of 2008 – 2013, when a larger section of Kenya population felt represented in the government.

The folly of FPTP can easily be seen in some constituencies in Nairobi City County where a candidate was declared the winner despite 65.4 percent of the electorate voting against, in other words some representatives are elected to the legislative assemblies with as low as 34.6 percent of the electorate. This anomaly can only be cured by proportional representation.

Proportional representation will facilitate minority parties to access representation if the threshold is objectively worked out, thereby enriching our national policy discourse. This will encourage political parties to campaign beyond the constituencies in which they are stronger or dominant leading to more cohesion as opposed to the current zoning by political parties.

Change system

Proportional representation will easily cure the gender parity question that has dodged our country from 2013 to date by simply requiring parties to produce a gender sensitive list at every level of election.

A well-structured party list will eliminate the need for nominations to the county assemblies, National Assembly and even senate. We must change our election system sooner than later from First Past The Post to a more democratic and fairer Proportional Representation for a better Kenya.

Mr Ogindo is the leader of the Green Congress (Party) of Kenya martin.ogindo@gck.or.ke