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Poilitigs

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An dàrna turas: Chan e riochdachadh co–roinneil a th' ann idir, idir!

Take two: It's not proportional representation at all!

Let’s have a look at this conversation again.

Ach, a chàirdean, tha mise rud beag tro chèile. Na bu thràithe, thug sinn iomradh air BPA sgìreil agus roinneil. Ciamar a tha sin? But, friends, I am a little confused. Earlier, we mentioned constituency and regional MSPs. How is that?
Uill, tha thu eòlach air siostam Westminster far a bheil an Siostam Àireamh Bhòtaichean as Motha (First Past the Post no FPTP) aca, nach eil? Well, you know the Westminster system where they have the First Past the Post (FPTP) system, don’t you?
Tha, agus tha mi a’ smaoineachadh gu bheil mi a’ tuigsinn sin—am pàrtaidh leis an àireamh as motha de bhòtaichean air buannachadh anns gach sgìre–phàrlamaid. Yes, and I think I understand that—the party with the most votes has won in each constituency.
Sin e, dìreach. Ach ma smaoinicheas tu mu dheidhinn, chan eil sin a’ riochdachadh nan daoine gu cothromach. Chan e riochdachadh co–roinneil a th’ ann idir, idir! That’s it, exactly. But if you think about it, that doesn’t represent the people fairly. It’s not proportional representation at all!
Nuair a chaidh Pàrlamaid na h–Alba a stèidheachadh às ùr ann an 1999, bhathas ag iarraidh siostam na bu chothromaiche a chleachdadh. When the Scottish Parliament was re–established in 1999, a fairer system was preferred to be used.
Sin far a bheil mise a’ dol ceàrr! Chan eil mi a’ tuigsinn taghaidhean is siostaman bhòtaidh is mar sin air adhart. That’s where I’m going wrong! I don’t understand elections and voting systems and so on.
‘S e siostam bhòtaidh Ball a Bharrachd no Additional Member System (AMS) a th’ aig Pàrlamaid na h–Alba. The Scottish Parliament has an Additional Member System (AMS) voting system.
Ciamar a bhios sin ag obrachadh? How does that work?
Bithear a’ taghadh BPA sgìreil airson na sgìre–phàrlamaid tron t-siostam FPTP an toiseach. Agus tha an dàrna bhòt agad airson pàrtaidh poilitigeach. A constituency MSP is elected for the constituency first by FPTP. And your second vote is for a political party.
Nam bharail–sa, sin far a bheil e a’ fàs iomadh–fhillte! In my opinion, that’s where it becomes complicated!
Ach seo na bunaitean—tha 73 BPA sgìreil againn agus tha ochd roinnean ann an Alba le seachdnar BPA roinneil anns gach roinn, ‘s e sin 56 dhiubh, gus am bi riochdachadh cothromach aig gach pàrtaidh uile gu lèir. But here are the basics—we have 73 Constituency MSPs and there are eight regions in Scotland with seven regional (list) MSPs in each region, that’s 56 of them, so that each party has full proportional representation.
Mar sin—fuirich gus am faic mi—tha sin a’ ciallachadh gu bheil 129 BPA againn uile gu lèir. So—wait until I see—that means we have 129 MSPs altogether.
Sin deamocrasaidh dhut! That’s democracy for you!