Emily Thornberry Quotes

In my view what you can't argue for is a system that is neither decisive nor proportional and can be indecisive and disproportionate at the same time.

You cannot say we are a healthy, dynamic democracy when one party wins almost two-thirds of the vote.

[Proportional representation is a] device for defeating democracy, the principle of which was that the majority should rule, and for bringing faddists of all kinds into Parliament, and establishing groups and disintegrating parties.

I myself share with the Conservative Party a profound dislike for such fandangles as proportional representation.

I used to be a fan of proportional representation, but I am not at all now I have seen it in action.

I think it's a pity that in many people's minds constitutional reform and PR have come to mean much the same thing.

The National Popular Vote is about getting states to convert from the winner-take-all rule. The states that pass the legislation will assign all their electoral votes to the candidate that got the most votes in the country, not just in the state.

I have long held that this is a one party government, the incumbent party.

The purpose is to give me a choice between two positions. If one party includes both positions, you have eliminated my right to choose .... In your determination to win everyone's vote, you could destroy the purpose of voting at all.

Proportional representation, I think, is fundamentally counter-democratic.

The Electoral College is the ink blot on the Constitution

… the decay of the liberties of the Dutch republic proceeded from three causes: 1. The perfect unanimity requisite on all occasions. 2. Their obligation to consult their constituents. 3. Their voting by provinces. This last destroyed the equality of representation, and the liberties of Great Britain also are sinking from the same defect.

Israel's system of proportional representation rarely produces stable government.

AV does not bring you greater proportionality - and there is a tendency for parties to gang up on one of the major ones to run an 'anyone but' campaign.

The American system is set up to have two parties competing for votes. But Americans have not had the same two parties to choose from since the beginning.

Our nation is not a fully representative democracy if we do not have a one-person, one-vote method of directly electing our president. It disproportionately tilts favor to smaller states with smaller populations.

I'm a firm believer that if we could restore real parliamentary democracy, the best way to do that would be to get rid of political parties.

One-man-one-vote is a most difficult form of government.. Results can be erratic.

I'm just saying that we need to find a better way to manifest the broader society's aspirations, politically. The key to it has to be some sort of proportional representation, which allows there to be more parties.

This is where the question always come up, "Aren't you going to split the vote?" To which the obvious answer is: Well let's just rank peoples' choices. This is a voting system we use across the country, from San Francisco to Portland, Maine, and the Twin Cities. It's used very successfully in single-office elections like mayor. It could be used for governor.

I believe in party sponsorship. I believe in Party government as distinguished from personal government, individual, dictatorial, autocratic or what not. In a citizenship of more than 100 million it is impossible to reach an agreement upon all the questions. Parties are formed by those who reach a consensus of opinion.

Ordinarily, proportional representation has a centrifugal effect, because it allows many parties, some of them extreme, to win a few seats and enter the legislature.

It's not opinion polls that determine the outcome of elections, it's votes in ballot boxes.

I'm not going to do anything that sees a Tory government be likely.

The British Government very naturally would like to see in India the form of democratic constitutions it knows best and thinks best, under which the Government of the country is entrusted to one or other political party in accordance with the turn of elections.