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Comment by jajag | Hacker News Reader

All true - and yet this parliament seems remarkably reluctant to allow the electorate the opportunity to correct this state of affairs.

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It's almost as if the clock is ticking on a very important deadline, and parliament wants to make sure it is dealt with before it takes any other action that might delay that.

If parliament allows an election now, it presents an opportunity for Boris to weasel his way out of requesting an extension. Given past Boris performance, why on earth would they?

Opposition parties might be concerned about being absent from Parliament when the Brexit deadline passes.

There's another problem, too. The First Past the Post electoral system prevents the electorate from correcting the state of affairs (except perhaps by accident). Call me cynical, but calls for an early general election under the existing system look like a power grab rather than a sincere attempt to let the electorate decide.

God forbid that voters have a say!

Voters should have a say under proportional representation. Holding a general election under First Past the Post would likely hand the government to a faction with minority support. I don't mean this to be partisan or pro-/anti-Brexit, but FPTP typically doesn't settle issues and increasingly doesn't provide good government in the UK.

FPTP typically overrepresents some parties at the cost of others (and at the cost of voters). Politicians might want an election when they believe they will be more overrepresented afterwards than before. That's why it's no surprise for the opposition to suddenly stop wanting an election when the government begins to want one.

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