but the fact that Labour shifted to the right over the last decade meant that people are looking for a party on the left. and the LD's are there to fill that gap.

you guys need a strong presence in between the Greens and the Democrats, basically.. we got MMP- Mixed Member Proportional (?)- a multi-party system, back home in NZ. it's got problems, but the principle is worthwhile enough to work with the problems.


i think Germany has MMP as well. and a few other places..(in fact i believe Hitler actually siezed power by playing parties against each other in a multi=party set-up. but don't let that put you off..)

anyway, it can be a hell of a lot more representative then a two-party system, if you have a larger representation of the political spectrum in power. it means you have extremists at both ends, of course, but the overall effect is mostly more balance.



basically any party that gets over 5% of the votes gets representation in the House. the higher a % they get, then the more relative seats they end up with.

one of the major obstacles in the US could be the sheer size of the place.. and the fact that most of your govt. would need to be overhauled. but that may not be a bad thing..