REP DAY NOVA SCOTIA

Our Electoral System

What is an electoral district?• An electoral district is a geographical area represented by an

elected official, also known as a riding or constituency.• The size of an electoral district is determined by population

and geographical features.• Urban ridings are small and heavily populated, rural ridings

are large and sparse.

What is an electoral system?• An electoral system is the way that citizens’ choices, expressed as

votes, are translated into legislative seats.• All electoral systems have three basic elements:

– District magnitude: the number of members elected per electoral district

– Ballot type: the way in which choices are presented to voters– Electoral formula: the method for determining which candidate

gets elected

How are our representatives elected?• Canada uses a system called First-Past-the-Post (or Single-

Member Plurality)• Citizens elect one member per electoral district.• Citizens can only choose one candidate/party on the ballot.• The winning candidate must receive at least one more vote

than any other candidate. This is also known as plurality.

How does First-Past-the-Post work?

• An example of FPTP, in an electoral district with 100 people.

VOTE TOTALS BY CANDIDATELucy (Banana Party) 40Josh (Apple Party) 15Nancy (Pear Party) 11Norman (No Affiliation) 34

• Lucy wins because she has the most votes, even though most voters chose someone else.

How does someone run for election?• A person running for election is called a candidate.• Any person who wants to run in a provincial election

must file papers with Elections Nova Scotia by the nomination deadline.

• Political parties select candidates to run for their party in the electoral districts across the province.

• Candidates can also run as an independent or without any relation to a party.