Episode 4 explores the problems with the way we select our democratic representatives, both at a local level (selecting our local representative) and at a national level (selecting the group of representatives who will form our government.

• The challenges of adequately representing the interests of not only majorities, but also the interests of minorities, too.
• What it means to get a majority of the vote – to get elected. In many instances, more people voted against our local representatives than voted for them.
• Can a political party, which goes on to form a government, ever actually get a majority of the votes cast? (Spoiler alert – not recently!)
• What about all those people who don't vote? 

Political parties form majority governments, without winning a majority of the votes cast nationally.

But do we then really have a government which represents us?

What does all of this that say about electoral mandates? – the legitimacy to make changes? – perhaps even big changes?

And if the government doesn't represent us, then is it really a representative democracy?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.