This is the voting system in Ireland and though I have an understanding of it, I struggle to explain it to other people, or even to put it into words myself.
Would appreciate any simple explanation, plus what its pros and cons are.
In: Other
https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/government-in-ireland/elections-and-referenda/voting/proportional-representation/
This link has a kind of simple explanation – the counting makes more sense when you watch it, than when you try to describe it.
Ireland has multi-member seats (each constituency elects more than one councillor/TD/MEP depending on the election). I can’t remember if you have to have multi member seats for STV to work, but that’s how it works here.
Pros: because more than one candidate is elected, there can be more representation for smaller parties, than in a “first past the post” system. If your first choice candidate is eliminated, your second choice may still be elected so your vote isn’t always “wasted”
Cons: the count can take a long time if there’s multiple rounds of counting.
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