[1980phipsi]

There are properties that different voting systems have. Not all voting systems can fulfill all of these properties. In many cases, it is a trade-off of some having some properties but not others and people deciding what they care about more. For instance, RCV satisfies the majority criterion, meaning that if a candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, then they are the winner. However, it does not satisfy the Condorcet criterion, which is that if there is a person who wins in a pairwise matchup against every other candidate, then that person is the winner.

RCV is also sensitive to different tactical strategies. You can rank a weak candidate higher in the hopes that they do well in one part of the run-off and then worse later. You may also have a preference for voting a less preferred candidate first for other reasons.

I wouldn't say it's perfect. It has some nice properties. Other systems may have nice properties too. The useful question to me is if you compare the current system vs. RCV, would it elect of those who more closely match the preferences of people they represent. I would say yes to that, but I also think Condorcet methods would do an even better job.

[nickff]

Have you seen any research on which parties or groups might benefit most from Condorcet methods? It would seem to me that it would benefit smaller parties who share something in common with a couple of major parties (such as the Libertarian party in the USA).