Opinion poll shows majority of Chileans want to change the electoral system [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

Tuesday, May 29th 2012- 22:17 UTC
Opinion poll shows majority of Chileans want to change the electoral system

A survey released this Thursday placed Chile’s long-controversial binominal electoral system under further scrutiny after revealing that 63.2% of respondents are in favour of electoral reform, while only 24.6% wish to keep the binominal system as is.

The survey, by El Mostrador and Universidad Mayor, asked a sample of 1.000 people of their opinions on the binominal system, of which 63.4% also believed that reform would improve the quality of democracy in Chile.

“Generally, people perceive the binominal system as one where nobody loses,” Francisco Diaz, senior researcher at Cieplan, said. “People wonder what value their vote has.”

Chile’s unique binominal system is the constitutional swan song of the Pinochet dictatorship, installed in 1989 to ensure the political right was well represented during the transition to democracy.

More:
http://en.mercopress.com/2012/05/29/opinion-poll-shows-majority-of-chileans-want-to-change-the-electoral-system