A proposal cancelling the Student Association’s five-district election system and installing parties was suggested Wednesday, although it would almost eliminate individual candidates from running.

Former Student Association Sen. Michael Murvihill gave the SA Internal Affairs Committee a representative election plan which he claims is “both fair and simple.”

Under Murvihill’s plan, prospective senators would form parties and circulate a petition to get on the ballot. The parties would not have to be political in the sense of democratic and republican, but they would represent student interests, he said.

The parties could form a name and create platforms, so students could “identify the party,” Murvihill said.

During elections, students would vote for the party which best reflects their interests. Murvihill said this would eliminate students from voting according to arbitrarily established geographical districts.

“There seems to be a need for a system with more student input and fair representation,” said SA Sen. Phill Buoscio. Murvihill’s plan will generate more input, Buoscio said.

Party members, not voters, would be required to rank the candidates and submit the list to the elections commissioner. Each candidate would be limited to one party, according to the proposal.

After the votes are counted, each party would seat the ranked senators in proportion to the number of total votes the party received.

For example, if there are 40 senate seats and 2,000 votes are cast, then the party receiving 50 votes would seat the first 10 candidates on its ranked list made before the election.

In addition, the unseated candidates would replace resigning or expelled senators, the proposal states. Murvihill said this would make spring semester and mid-semester appointments unnecessary, saving the SA time and money.

The system’s advantages include maximizing minority representation because if the senate has 40 members, a party would only have to get 1/40th of the total vote to seat a senator, Murvihill said.

Students would vote on policies rather than popularity and the voting would be equal and simple, he said.

However, Murvihill said a disadvantage to the proposal is organized groups will have an unfair advantage in getting votes for parties they support. He added students should not be discriminated against because they belong to an organization.

Another criticism might be individual candidates cannot run, but Murvihill said there is nothing preventing candidates to form a party.

Although students will not have their own senators, they will have parties interested in effectively representing them, Murvihill said.

He also said his idea is not new, rather it comes from Israel and Scandanavian Countries. Murvihill submitted his plan last year, but “either people didn’t understand it or were scared by such a big change.”