Definition of democracy

As he/she says ultimate power resides with the electorate but under our system the exercise of the authority to govern on a day-to-day basis is passed to an elected parliament who, for good or ill, make decisions on our behalf.

We send representatives to make up that parliament but they are not mandated delegates such as might be sent by for example a union branch to the annual conference of their union.

If they were we could simply abandon our current system and have an unending series of referenda where every item to be decided is passed directly to the public.

Under our system the MP is not bound to agree with the opinions expressed by their constituency just as the electorate is free to give their votes to another candidate.

Stephen Crowther

Greystones