Lecture 12

Question 1

3 types of political systems

Answer 1

presidentialism & semi-presidentialism & parlamentarism

Question 2

3 types of party systems

Answer 2

predominant party, two party system & multi party system

Question 3

…are a way to assess preferences trough votes. What parties’ people like who gets the most votes etc. It is also the main way to select leaders and policies.

Answer 3

Elections

Question 4

overtime … become the standard

Answer 4

Representative democracies

Question 5

What is the purpose of an election?

Answer 5

is to express who people want to vote for. To make collective decisions. We won’t directly be involved in government decisions, but we choose people who are going to run our government. We choose who will represent our country and our government. There is also a transfer of power.

Question 6

general elections or national elections are also called …

Answer 6

Parliamentary elections

Question 7

For what do you vote for in Parliamentary elections ?

Answer 7

ou vote which parties we put in the government and then the biggest party/ coalition will choose who the prime minister will be.

Question 8

Elections are important for these reasons

Answer 8

1.They are important in a democracy. A democracy requires the existence of elections, competition between parties in elections and the participation of voters.

2. It is the easiest way to practice your political right

3.In some countries it is compulsory

Question 9

… is a group of voters in a certain territorial area (districts). Each one is designed for several seats. The size of the constituency is decided based on the population of the area.

Answer 9

Constituency

Question 10

… are the systems in which the winning party takes the seat the other votes are wasted.

Answer 10

Majoritarian electoral systems

Question 11

… where the number of seats you get represent the % of votes you get. Here the majority does not matter.

Answer 11

Proportional representation

Question 12

… is that you have more votes than others (not the majority) this is what you need in the first –past-the-vote-system to win the seats.

Answer 12

Plurality

Question 13

… achieved with more than half the votes (50% + 1%) In the second -round system you take the two candidates who got the motes votes and the candidate that got the majority votes is elected.

Answer 13

the majority

Question 14

… are votes that will not be represented in the parliament after the election outcome. Example if you vote for a smaller party and they do not get elected in parliament this can be seen as a wasted vote. Any vote that is not represented in a seat is considered wasted.

Answer 14

Wasted votes

Question 15

… is the minimum amount (%) of vote you need to get a seat in parliament.

Answer 15

electoral treshold

Question 16

… is the different ways in which votes are cast, counted and translated in seats. This is different for each system. The outcome will be very different depending on which system you use.

Answer 16

electoral system

Question 17

what are the two electoral system we discussed ?

Answer 17

Majoritarian system & proportional system

Question 18

First past the post /FPTP (Majoritarian)

Answer 18

There is one electoral seat in the parliament. The seat goes to the candidate with the most (not majority) votes. it is about plurality.

’’ the winner takes all’’

There is one candidate per party. In this system people tend to vote for the candidate rather then the party it self. This type of system is more personal. ex: uk & U.S.A

Question 19

Two round system ( Majoritarian)

Answer 19

With this system the goal is to get more than 50% of the votes (51%+) . Key idea of this system is that the winning party receives majority of the votes through a two round voting system.

Round 1 includes all the candidates the two parties with the most votes advance to round two.

Round 2 includes the party who got the most votes in the previous round. Voter vote again this time the party that get the majority of the vote so 51% or above wins the election. ex: France

Question 20

Advantages majoritarian system

Answer 20

1. It is a simple form of election. It is easier to see who won the election since the person with the most votes won.
2. This systems makes it easier for voters to connect with candidates and hold them accountable since it is more personal.
3. It does make the government stronger because there are less parties which causes less fergmentation.
4. It disadvantages extremist parties.

Question 21

Disadvantages of Majoritarian system

Answer 21

1. It leads to more wasted votes. Since the votes of the non-winning candidates does not count.
2. It demotivates people to vote for smaller parties since your vote might be wasted.
3. It leads to certain parties not / getting less seats since they are not the majoritarian vote.

Question 22

… happens when the boundaries of electoral districts / constituencies are drawn to manipulate the outcome of votes (Favor one party over another) This is more likely to happen when it is political official (chosen by a party in charge) you draw the constituency line in territories. For example, if a republican draws the line in Favour for republican voters and party.

Answer 22

Gerrymandering

Question 23

What proportional representation?

Answer 23

The goal of proportional representation is to not divide the country into district but to proportionally represent the amount of votes into the number of seats.

20% of the votes means 20% of the seats.

Question 24

… is that the party choses the list before the election, voter choose the party but not the person (they vote on the list as a whole). Voters do not influence the order of the candidates only the party can. Portuguese parliament

Answer 24

Closed list

Question 25

… the party still makes the list before the election, but the voter can choose which candidate on the list they will vote for. The order of which candidate gets the seat is based on the number of votes each candidate in the party got. > party gets 6 seats normally this would mean that candidate 1 to 6 on the list would get the seat but if candidate 7 in this instance has more votes than number 1 trough 6, they can take their place in the seat. Dutch parliament

Answer 25

Open List

Question 26

What is the electoral threshold?

Answer 26

This is the minimum amounts of votes or seats a party needs to get a place in the parliament

Question 27

What is a coalition?

Answer 27

an alliance between multiple parties to support each other. You support each other bills and you form a government together

Question 28

advantages of proportional representation system

Answer 28

1. There is more representation in the parliament and the government
2. More choices when voting
3. Less votes are wasted
4. There are more opportunities for smaller parties
5. Less district dependancy