Transcript Electoral Systems

Electoral Systems
Plurality/Majority System vs.
Proportional Representation
Classification of Electoral Systems 1
Plurality
 Classified separate from Majority by Blais and Massicotte in Comparing
Democracies 2.
Classification of Electoral Systems 2
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Majority Systems
Classification of Electoral Systems 3
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Mixed Systems
Classification of Electoral Systems 4
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Proportional Representation
Classification of Electoral Systems 5
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Pippa Norris in Electoral Engineering:
Classifications of Electoral Systems
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Can Plurality and Majority systems be
considered similar enough to group them
together as one? Or should they remain
separate as in the first example?
 Which classification is the most effective,
the prior, considering districts, or the latter
just considering the types of electoral
system?
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Plurality System
After votes have been cast, the party/individual with the
most are declared the winners.
 First Past the Post (FPTP)-”outperforms all other options
in terms of its pristine simplicity”. FPTP is very simple
and is applied in single member districts and is largely
candidate centred voting.
 Primarily found in the UK and countries that have been
historically linked with Great Britain.
 It is the most votes that wins an election not the
majority of the votes. E.g. The Labour Party of the UK
won only 35.3% of the vote in 2005, with a majority of
over 150 seats, while the Conservatives managed 32.3%
of the vote.
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Majority System
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Not quite as simple as FPTP
There is the possibility of having no winner at all in this
supposed “winner takes all system” in single-round
voting.
Therefore, runoff’s are introduced where the two
strongest parties/individuals will go against each-other in
a second round of voting (Seen in the US).
This system is utilized by 19 out of 32 countries with a
direct presidential elections.
Alternative voting is less costly as voters rank candidates
on preference and said candidates win if they have a
majority in the preferences.
Proportional Representation
PR is literally translation of votes into a
corresponding proportion of seats in the
legislature.
 By definition, PR can only be used in
multimember districts.
 District magnitude has a significant
bearing on the result i.e. More
representatives elected mean the system
is more proportional.
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PR List System
Lists may be open or closed, in a closed
list voters may only select the party they
wish to vote for, whereas, in an open list
voters can express preferences for
particular candidates.
 The rank order of candidates on the party
list determines who is elected to
parliament.
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PR Single Transferable Vote
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Provides voters with more freedom than party lists.
Members are elected in multi-member districts.
However, candidates are grouped into a single ballot to
be ranked in order by voters.
There is no obligation for voters to express preferences
for the candidates of a single party, which provides more
choice.
Only first preference votes are considered for election
and once the quota for the candidate has been filled,
their excess votes are then transferred to remaining
candidates based on the preference list.
Advantages of FPTP
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Its simplicity and tendency to produce winners
that are representatives obliged to defined
geographic areas.
It is a very simple ballot count.
It provides two clear cut choices for the voter.
Single Party governments mean that cabinets
are not usually restrained by weaker coalition
minority party.
FPTP gives rise to respectable opposition to
legislature to act as a ‘critical checking role’ and
presents itself as an alternative.
Advantages of FPTP cont…
Single Party governments mean that political
parties have to be broad in their appeal.
 Excludes anti-systemic or extremist parties from
representation in the legislature because of
geographical spread of voters.
 Promotes a link between constituents and their
representatives in parliament as cities, towns
and councils have their own parliamentary
representatives.
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Disadvantages of FPTP
Excludes parties and minorities from ‘fair’
representation-could it be that it is democracy
failing?
 Can exclude women. Evidence suggests that
women are less likely to be elected to the
legislature under plurality/majority systems than
under PR ones.
 Can encourage the development of political
parties based on clan, ethnicity or region.
 There are a large number of wasted votes which
do not go towards the elected party.
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Disadvantages of FPTP cont…
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Vote splitting can occur. Two similar parties or candidates
in policy can gain a split of the same ideological votes
thus allowing a less popular party through.
Would a ‘less popular’ party be the minority and thus in
extreme cases, would that minority being represented?
Is this a good or bad thing?
FPTP can be insensitive to swings in public opinion.
It is dependant on drawing constituency boundaries and
thus gerrymandering can occur.
There is a ‘winning/seat bonus’ with FPTP which can be
a disproportionate votes to seats ratio.
Advantages of PR
Translating of votes to seats can avoid the
‘unfair’ results that can arise in FPTP systems.
 Avoids the ‘winning bonus’ as votes are directly
translated into seats.
 It encourages or requires parties to formulate
policy lists which can be voted upon thus
clarifying ideology and policy.
 PR does not allow votes to be wasted so is it
democracy in a purer form than FPTP?
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Advantages of PR cont…
Low thresholds mean that almost every
vote is counted and will be represented.
 PR can facilitate minority parties’ access to
representation thus more democratic.
 Encourages parties to campaign beyond
their districts as every vote counts.
 It can provide a stability to Policy and
makes power sharing more visible.
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Disadvantages of PR
Gives rise to coalition governments thus
fragmented executive can cloud policy making
and provide obstacles.
 Factional splits can arise which, again, cause
instability in the legislature.
 PR can be a platform for extremist parties and
potentially anti-systemic parties.
 Governing coalitions will undoubtedly share too
little common ground to make strong policies.
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Disadvantages of PR cont…
PR can give a disproportionate amount of
power to minority parties.
 Accountability could be lost with a
coalition government as voters lose the
power to throw a party out because of the
coalition.
 It can be difficult for voters and the
electoral administration to implement
complex rules of the system.
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FPTP vs. PR
Which electoral system is more effective
and which provides the best party system?
 Does PR, despite its apparent democratic
nature, damage democracy?
 Is party self interest present in both
systems? Or can it be avoided?
 Is PR more unstable than it is stable and
can FPTP be considered a viable
alternative or a more stable system?
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