In the parliamentary politics of the United Kingdom and Canada, one member, one vote (OMOV) is a method of selecting party leaders, and determining party policy, by a direct vote of the members of a political party. Traditionally, these objectives have been accomplished either by a party conference, party convention, vote of members of parliament, or some form of electoral college. OMOV backers claim that OMOV enhances the practice of democracy, because ordinary citizens will be able to participate. Detractors counter that allowing those unversed in the issues to help make decisions makes for bad governance.
The use of OMOV is placed in date order for each country:
Canada
Parti Québécois
The first OMOV leadership selection process in Canada was held by the Parti Québécois, ending on 29 September 1985.
Manitoba political parties
In English-speaking Canada, the principle of OMOV has for years been a major commitment of Vaughan L. Baird. Long a proponent of the election process that empowers all members of a party to choose their leaders, Baird was instrumental in having the provincial constituency of Morris, Manitoba successfully put forward the principle of OMOV to the provincial Progressive Conservative Party on 5 November 1985. Immediately after the Morris victory, Baird wrote to every national and provincial party in Canada and urged them to do the same. Soon after, the Manitoba Liberal Party adopted the principle. Alberta PCs used the method in electing Ralph Klein as their new leader in December 1992.
The Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba adopted the process in early 1987, but the party hierarchy later had it revoked. Though again adopted by the party in 1994, OMOV was revoked a second time in November 1995. Finally, on November 17, 2001, with only three votes in opposition, OMOV was passed by the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba.
Alberta Progressive Conservatives
In 1991, the Alberta Progressive Conservatives changed its rules for selecting a party leader, moving from a traditional delegate-based leadership convention to an OMOV system. Four party leaders were chosen using this system: Ralph Klein (1992); Ed Stelmach (2006); Alison Redford (2011); and Jim Prentice (2014). However, the Alberta PC party ended this system in 2016 after OMOV came under criticism.
New Democratic Party
In 1995, the New Democratic Party moved some way towards OMOV when they developed a series of regional primary elections prior to their convention. In the subsequent contest, the party went further adopting a modified OMOV process for the 2003 NDP leadership election in which the vote was calculated so that ballots cast by labour delegates had 25% weight in the total result, while votes cast by all party members on an OMOV had a weight of 75%. When the federal Liberal government changed the election finances law, soon after Jack Layton won the NDP's leadership in the modified OMOV election on January 23, 2003, the party implemented full OMOV for its next leadership convention. The Ontario NDP does not use full OMOV for its leadership elections -- the Party Constitution (Article 8) provides for a 25% weighting of delegate votes from affiliated unions and locals.
Bloc Québécois
The Bloc Québécois first used OMOV in its 1997 leadership election.
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada used a weighted OMOV system first used in 1998 for the 1998 Progressive Conservative leadership election, in order to encourage leadership candidates to seek support across the country. In 2003, the party merged with the Canadian Alliance, which itself used a pure OMOV system, to form the Conservative Party of Canada, but it was agreed to retain the weighted system for the new party. Under the weighted system, all ridings are accorded an equal number of points and those points are distributed to candidates proportionately to how party members in that riding vote.
Liberal Party of Canada
In 2009, the Liberal Party of Canada adopted a weighted membership vote in which each riding counts equally in the final tally. This is not a one-member, one-vote system because, by definition, members have a variable number of votes depending on the riding they live in. However, it is similar to one member, one vote in that every party member is entitled to cast a ballot. The 2009 convention was conducted according to the old rules. However, as this convention did not feature a contested race but was a ratification of Michael Ignatieff's leadership, the last example of a full-blown delegated federal leadership convention being the 2006 convention that elected Stéphane Dion.