Part Time Politicians
Well, yes, of course, all of us are in favour of part time politicians: they do so much less damage than the full time kind. But Holland seems to have gone a stage further with the idea of allowing people to be such:
A nurse and part-time pop singer has fulfilled her dream of becoming an MP by taking a seat in parliament on maternity cover.
Under a new provision in a country that is known for its liberalism and progressive social laws, Sabine Uitslag will serve as an MP for the Dutch ruling Christian Democrat party (CDA). She will be a stand-in for Mirjam Sterk.
Ms Uitslag, 35, will spend four months in Parliament until the maternity leave of Ms Sterk has finished. It is the first test of an arrangement that both women believe should become the norm across the European Union.
The reason that this works is the slightly odd electoral system that they have in Holland. Instead of being elected for a district the election covers the whole country. You stand as a member for a particular part and you get a number on that party list. If your party only gets a few votes across the country then only the top three or four on the list will get elected: if the party gets a lot, then perhaps the first 40 or 50 on the list will. Ms. Uitslag was in fact number 50 on her party’s list and the top 49 actually got elected. So she’s the top one who didn’t, if you follow me.
So the part time politician thing isn’t all that odd: if one of the people who did get elected were to die, or be so ill they could not continue, then the same thing would happen. The next one on the list would then take their seat.
Still, it’s an interesting way to deal with maternity leave, don’t you think?
May 9th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
The ancient Athenians, the first to give democracy a go, had a similar policy (where, perhaps, the idea partly originated). Society’s decisions were made at the assembly, but the assembly wasn’t like parliament or congress – all adult male citizens were allowed to take part, and all had equal say (of course, women and slaves were not included). If you were present, you voted on whatever issue was at hand. There was a group of officeholders who oversaw meetings of the assembly, called the council of 500. But these 500 were selected by lottery (chosen from all male citizens 30 years and older); each term would last just a year; and any citizen could serve only twice in his lifetime.
I like this idea in ways (other than the no women part, and the fact there were slaves), just as I like this European model. It does seem something needs to be done to reduce the corruption in democracy, a political model that, by definition, certainly should be free of corruption.