2022 Saint-Baptiste electoral reform referendum

2022 Saint-Baptiste electoral reform referendum
Location	Saint-Baptiste
Date	2 January 2022
Voting system	Ranked voting
Please select the electoral system that you wish the Chamber of Deputies to use for the successive elections of deputies. Principean: Veuillez sélectionner le système électoral que vous souhaitez que la Chambre des députés utilise pour les élections successives des députés.
First-past-the-post   25.02% Mixed-member proportional   21.32% Party-list proportional   13.08% Single transferable vote   40.58%

The 2022 Saint-Baptiste electoral reform referendum is a planned referendum in Saint-Baptiste set for 2 January, 2022. Baptistois voters will decide if the country retains its current first-past-the-post voting system to the country's Chamber of Deputies, or approve one of three available alternative systems. Since Saint-Baptiste's independence in 1947, every parliamentary election has used first-past-the-post in selecting its deputies, a system that had come under scrutiny over recent years regarding lack of proportionality and granting excessive landslides to victorious parties, namely the Baptistois Liberal Party. If an alternative system is chosen, the next election (expected to be held in the fall of 2022) will be the first election in Baptistois history to not use first-past-the-post.

The referendum came alongside a government reshuffle in November 2021 that saw the Saint-Baptiste Reform Party under Hanri Vasseur form a minority government with the support of the Baptistois Labour Party and Victory SB, after former Prime Minister Robert Ménard lost his majority in the Chamber of Deputies through a party defection and by-election in August of 2021. The referendum, announced by Prime Minister Vasseur in his first speech to the Chamber, was agreed upon in exchange for support from the minor parties towards his government.

History and campaign

The referendum was approved by the Chamber of Deputies on 15 November, 2021, and set to be held on 2 January, 2022. The governing Saint-Baptiste Reform Party supported what it referred to as a "vote for change", or any system excluding first-past-the-post. In comparison, the Baptistois Liberal Party and the break-away People's Action Party aggressively campaigned to keep first-past-the-post, arguing that the system promoted stability and clear government formations. The various individual parties making up the left-wing electoral alliance Inite campaigned for different systems, with the Baptistois Labour Party supporting a switch to single transferable vote, arguing that it would allow continued local representation while creating results similar to the popular vote.

Support by party

FPTP	MMP	Party-list	STV	PR (no specific system)
Baptistois Liberal Party People's Action Party Saint-Maurice Independents	Victory SB	None	Baptistois Labour Party Fanmi	Saint-Baptiste Reform Party

Results

2022 Saint-Baptiste electoral reform referendum

Option	First preference		Second count		Third count
	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
Single transferable vote	5,694	40.58	6,245	44.50	8,910	63.49
First-past-the-post	3,511	25.02	3,981	28.37	5,123	36.51
Mixed-member proportional	2,992	21.32	3,807	27.13	N/A
Party-list proportional representation	1,836	13.08	N/A
Invalid/blank votes	103	N/A
Total votes	14,136		14,033		14,033
Registered voters/turnout	23,910	59.12	N/A