P.E.I. electoral reform: Government union backs #honourthevote

The P.E.I. Union of Public Sector Employees has passed a resolution calling on the government to honour the results of recent plebiscite and change the election system.

The plebiscite result was for a change from the first past the post system to a mixed member proportional representation system, but Premier Wade MacLauchlan has questioned whether the 36.5 per cent voter turnout is sufficient to consider it an accurate reflection of the opinion of Islanders.

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The resolution to lobby the government for electoral change came up as an emergency resolution at the union's weekend convention.

"[Our members] feel the plebiscite was a democratic process and should be respected," said UPSE president Karen Jackson.

"A majority in most other cases would be respected. Even if it was a provincial election, would the provincial election be revoked because of low voter turnout?"

Jackson said if the premier was concerned about voter turnout he should have set a threshold in advance, and that it is difficult to turn around now and tell people who took the time to vote that their vote does not count.

UPSE wants the electoral system changed for the 2019 provincial election.

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