Nelson Mandela

There's talk of his legacy; hence this letter in the Irish Times, 16.12.2013.

2013-16: Hong Kong 香港

This paper is our formal submission to the consultations on the electoral system(s) to be used for the 2017 and 2016 elections of the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council.  It is also hoped that, when attention turns to the 2020 LegCo election, consideration will be given to QBS.

(See also 2015-1 and 2014-11)

2013-15: Scotland's white paper, 26.11.2013

If a sports competition between Man. Utd. (independence), Man. City (devo. max) and Liverpool (status quo) were to be played as the Scottish referendum is to be conducted, and if the games were organised by a Manchunian, then Man. Utd. might play Liverpool in round one.  If Man. Utd. won, they'd win the contest.  If not, Liverpool would then have to play Man. City, and the winner of this second match would be the champion.

In other words, the whole thing has been fixed so that independence is given the best chance of success.  In a word, it is a nonsense.

In 1997, the SNP wanted a three-option vote.  But both Tony Blair and David Cameron like binary, majority voting in decision-making, as did Napoleon (1804), Lenin (1903), Mussolini (1929), Hitler (1933), and several others, Duvalier, Pinochet, Gaddafi, Khomeini, et al.

Multi-option voting has been successful in many countries - New Zealand, for example, held a five-option ballot in 1992 - and such ballots are far more likely to qualify as meeting the highest international standards.

Accordingly, a more accurate and therefore more democratic instrument of decision-making would be a three-option vote, the winner being that option which gained the highest average preference.  And an average, of course, involves every voter, not just a majority.

(See also 2014-12, 2013-15, 2012-13/10/1 and 2011-1.)

2013-14: Journal of Dialogue Studies

The first ever issue of this journal includes an article from the de Borda Institute.  

http://www.dialoguesociety.org/publications/academia/829-journal-of-dialogue-studies.html

2013-13: China 天津, 南京

The de Borda Institute ran an MBC experiment in the Zhou Enlai School of Government of Nankai University and, as so often happens, the MBC social ranking was the same as that from the Condorcet rule.  The analysis is available from the menu on the right hand side of this home page.

A similar exercise was conducted in Nanjing University on 18th Nov.

(See also 2014-13/11 and 2013-11.)

2013-12: Dublin City Council - a record

On 2nd Sept, 51 councillors of Dublin City Council (DCC) used a Borda Count (BC) or Modified Borda Count (MBC) to name a new bridge over the Liffey, the Rosie Hackett bridge.  As far as is known, this is the first time that DCC, or any elected chamber in Ireland, North or South, has used a Borda methodology in decision-making.  An initial analysis is attached, as too is a full report by Prof. John Baker.   The bridge is due to be opened on 20.5.2014.  

(See also 2014-9.)

2013-11: China: 长春、徐州和西安。

At the Global Economic Leaders' Summit, Changchun,长春, 2013.9.4-6, the de Borda Institute - 德博达研究所 - gave the attached talk and power-point presentation.  Then, in Xuzhou 徐州, on 2013.9.18, there was another talk and presentation.  A similar contribution was given to the Low Carbon Earth Summit in Xi'an 西安 on 2013.9.27. 

(See also 2014-13/11 and 2013/16/13/11)

德博达研究所

德博达研究所

2013-10: Ireland Referendums

This letter - http://www.irishtimes.com/debate/letters/options-in-referendums-1.1483085 - was published in The Irish Times on 5th Aug.

2013-9: Beijing Law Review

Democratic Rights: Decision-Making by Law Makers and Law Enforcers, was published in BLR Vol 4 No 2 2013.  It's open access on http://www.scirp.org/journal/blr/

(See also 2014-13/11.)

2013-8: Egypt

Adversarial voting procedures, as in Egypt's constitutional referendum, have not helped the revolution.  This letter was published in The Guardian on 3.7.2013.