Author(s)

Peter Emerson

The de Borda Institute, Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Majority voting is the most ancient, primitive, divisive and inaccurate measure of collective opinion ever invented. Yet many people believe it to be the very foundation of democracy. The consequences are widespread. Firstly, the outcomes of binary referendums are often held to be “the will of the people”. Secondly, in the wake of general elections, the new intake of elected representatives then forms a majority administration, with some of them having all the power while others have none. And thirdly, in numerous plural societies, ethno- religious minorities/majorities feel justified in resorting to violence against that which they perceive to be majority/minority oppression. Accordingly, this article first compares binary voting with other decision-making voting procedures before then discussing what could be the methodology, the implications and the potential consequences of a more accurate non-majoritarian procedure.

Consensus Voting, Modified Borda Count, Power-Sharing

Emerson, P. (2017) The Will of the People: A Critique of (Simple or Weighted) Majority Voting. Open Journal of Political Science, 7, 311-325. doi: 10.4236/ojps.2017.72025.