Professor David Farrell:

What we know from the analysis that has been done across continental Europe since the Second World War is that most of the continental European democracies are moving their electoral systems towards our system. While it is not the single transferable vote, STV, they are moving towards a system in which voters have a greater say. There is a great merit in our system which is that, as members are aware, there is good linkage between politicians and their constituents. That is a good and is something we should value. The problem is our politicians perhaps take it to another level and as I stated earlier, much of that is less to do with the failings of our politicians and more to do with the failings of the system that causes greater demand on our politicians to so do. As to why the Constitutional Convention chose not to propose a radical change of our electoral system, it is because its members spent two long weekends reading briefing documents, listening to briefings by experts and considering, in a well-considered deliberative process, the merits of whether to change our electoral system. Having informed themselves in a well-considered process like that, they decided that on balance, the electoral system was not that bad after all.