Call for byelections to be replaced

BYELECTIONS ARE an anachronism and should be replaced with the system used in Malta where the former member’s votes are distributed to voters’ next preference, an Oireachtas committee has heard.

Prof David Farrell, from the school of politics and international relations at University College Dublin, told the Committee on the Constitution that the Maltese “count-back” procedure should replace byelections here.

“Byelections are an anachronism in a proportional system . . . there’s no reason for byelections here,” Prof Farrell said.

Referring to former TD George Lee’s dramatic departure from politics this week following his victory in the Dublin South byelection in June, Fine Gael deputy Jim O’Keeffe said he could certainly see the disadvantages now.

Prof Farrell also said party registration laws should be amended to require parties to nominate a national minimum number of women candidates in Dáil elections.

Meanwhile, Dr Gary Murphy, associate professor of government at Dublin City University, said byelections could have national consequences and were “worth sticking with”.

He noted byelections had become “mini-referendums” on governments as they seemed to have an “inbuilt bias” against the government of the day.

He said the last time a government won a byelection was in July 1982 when Noel Treacy was elected in Galway East. There had been 20 byelections since then.

“The fear of losing a seat at a byelection gives governments of all hues an incentive to leave a seat vacant for a long time, as in the case of Donegal South West at the moment.

“This essentially disenfranchises the electorate of Donegal South West, and to be frank this is unacceptable practice.”

Dr Murphy said there should be a time limit of no more than six months within which a byelection must take place.

Hermann Schiavone from Malta, a PhD student at the University of Manchester, said Malta was the only other country that used the system of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote.

He said voter turnout at the last election was 93 per cent, which was the lowest since 1971. There was no legal obligation to vote, but this figure reflected the “genuine high motivation” of the Maltese electorate.

He said Maltese MPs were part-time, and spent a third of their time on constituency work, a third on legislative work and a third on their professions, according to a recent study.