PR system has both positives and negatives: Badiul Alam Majumdar

Elections under the proportional representation (PR) system carry both positive and negative aspects, Electoral Reform Commission chief Badiul Alam Majumdar has said.

Speaking to The Business Standard today (22 August), he noted that while the PR system ensures seats are allocated according to vote share, reflecting people's votes more accurately, it may also create instability in government.

"The PR system has advantages as well as disadvantages. It can lead to unstable governments. But since seats are determined by the percentage of votes, it ensures proper reflection of people's mandate. On the other hand, in the existing system, a small variation in vote share can result in a disproportionately large difference in seats, which does not reflect people's will properly," said Badiul, who is also a member of the National Consensus Commission.

"For this reason, we have suggested retaining both systems — PR for the upper house and the existing system for the lower house," he added.

His remarks came a day after several media outlets reported that he had described the PR system as "dangerous." 

A video also circulated on social media in which he was heard saying, "PR is an uncontrollable system. Under PR, no one gets a majority. It creates instability. One person could be prime minister in the morning, another by evening."

Clarifying the matter, Badiul said the video was "distorted and unethical." 

"There were statements before and after the clip that were deliberately omitted to misrepresent my views," he said.