FPTP in British general election 2005 and Canadian federal election 2006. Two sides of the same coin?

The article deals with district level electoral competition in Canada and Great Britain. Analyzing fragmentation, degree of competition and district heterogeneity of party support, using a calibrated set of research tools (Laakso-Taagepera’s N, graphical methods, second-first loser ratio (SFLR) and Gini index as measure of heterogeneity), we argue that in respect to the Duvergerian agenda, Great Britain and Canada now represent proximate (and not – as before – distal) cases. This convergence has been accompanied by the departure of both electoral arenas from the former status quo in at least one of the dimensions under observation. We briefly discuss possible reasons for that departure, mostly exogenous of electoral rules, stressing their increasing importance for the Duvergerian agenda in general.