Ian, you really should do some research on electoral system.

The great majority of European countries - over 25 - practice proportional representation, often enshrined in their constitutions. These are stable democracies for whom the PR system causes no problems, to the contrary. Most have had this electoral system in place ever since they adopted national constitutions. New Zealand, more recently, benefited greatly from its introduction. The New South Africa adopted it. Most countries that became independent after the USSR broke up adopted it.

It makes for greater diversity and is, quite obviously, more democratic in that seats are won proportionally to the votes cast for a party. This red herring of "instability" that some journalists, who don't really know always bring up in Australia, simply doesn't hold true.

Klaa

Klaas, you state your opinions as if they were facts, which suggests a belief that any viewpoint that differs from your own can only be the result of ignorance. How can there be any debate if you pretend that there is only one possible position?

Ian,

I simply answered YOUR question. You wondered about stability, implying the opposite. The opposite is in fact the exception. These are facts, not opinion. Anyone can check that out.

Instability has been observed in Italy and Israel since WWII. The instability there has many causes and it is not even clear that PR is the major one, if it was one at all. Italy discontinued with PR but instability has continued.

Klaas