Week 3: electoral systems + caramani ch. 10 and 13* Flashcards
Three main categories and subtypes of electoral systems:
- Majoritarian systems
Single-member plurality
Alternative vote
Two-round system - Proportional systems
List systems
Single transferable vote - Mixed systems
Compensatory
Parallel
Majoritarian electoral systems and subtypes
- Defined by the amount of MP’s/seats equalling the amount of constituencies. Winner takes all.
Subtypes:
Single member plurality (FPTP / SMP)
- Whoever wins the most votes (plurality) gets the seat
- Not necessarily majority: plurality, more than the others
- Advantages: simplest system, one representative responsible (accountability), single party majority system
- Disadvantages: encourages strategic behavior (not true preferences), favors large parties and produces disproportionate outcomes (unrepresentative)
Alternative vote (AV)
- Voters rank-order the candidates according to their preferences
- Less wasted votes - more accurate representation of preferences
- Majority, rather than plurality wins.
- If there is no majority, then the last place candidate gets eliminated and ballots redistributed
Two-round system (2RS)
- Voters vote for a single preferred candidate like in FPTP
- Aiming for a majority: if no candidate wins an outright majority, a second round is organized with top candidates from first round (either top 2 or a certain threshold)
- Majority, rather than plurality. Used often for presidential elections
Proportional electoral systems and subtypes
- Whole country is a constituency, multi-member constituencies
- Advantages of proportional systems:
Discourages strategic voting
Allocation of seats more accurately represents preferences - Disadvantages of proportional systems
not always an opportunity to vote for a single candidate (less clear accountability, vote for a package)
coalition governments (potential instability, less clear accountability)
can be seen as complex and unintuitive, especially STV
Subtypes:
List systems:
- Voters choose a list, rather than a single candidate
- Seats are distributed on the proportion of votes received
- Two types of lists: closed lists (order of candidates predetermined) and open lists (voters have influence on the order of candidates on the list)
Single transferable vote (STV)
- Voters rank as many candidates as they want (across party lists). Focused on not wasting any votes
- To get elected, candidates need to reach a certain quota. Surplus votes are redistributed until all the seats are filled
- To reach the quota:
The surplus of candidates who reach the quota are (re)distributed
The second preferences of last placed candidates are counted
Mixed electoral systems and subsystems
- Voters cast two votes: one for a candidate (majoritarian system), one for a list (proportional system).
Two types of systems:
Parallel
Two votes - two competitions. Certain proportion of the seats are divided under majoritarian, certain under proportional
Compensatory
Results of candidates and list are combined. Want to guarantee the proportionality of the overall share of votes.
Dimensions of variation of electoral systems:
- District magnitude - how many seats are allocated in a single constituency?
- Single-member constituencies -> majoritarian
- Multi-member constituencies -> proportional. Large degree of variation:
Some countries have one constituency with 150 seats. Sometimes 22 constituencies for 230 seats
More constituencies -> less proportionality. Larger constituencies -> more proportionality - Intra-party (within party) choice
- Majoritarian systems:
No intra-party choice for voters.
- Proportional systems:
Closed lists: no choice
Open lists and STV: choice - Thresholds:
- A minimum percentage of votes needed to be eligible for seat allocation in the legislature
- Higher thresholds, less proportional results. (But: less fragmentation and easier government formation)
Consequences of electoral systems: Duverger’s Laws
- Not many laws in political science, so this one is important and works almost every time.
- Law 1: Majoritarian systems lead to two-party systems.
- Law 2: Proportional systems lead to multi-party systems
Why?
- Mechanical effects -> the way votes are transferred into seats
- Psychological effects -> strategic voting and strategic participation by parties
Nuance: only works when parties are nationalized. It will apply on the level of the constituency, but will only translate to a two-party system on a national level of the parties are nationally organized.
Why do electoral systems matter?
- They legitimize representative democratic governments by translating voters’ preferences into political mandates
- Their design might influence…
The composition of the government
The party system
Voter turnout
Representation of women
Behaviour of MPs
Types of referendums:
- In which circumstances?
- Mandatory/constitutionally necessary
- Optional - Who initiates?
- Political institutions
- Citizen initiatives - What is the goal?
- Decision promoting: decision already made, adding mandate
- Decision controlling: veto power. Two forms:
Abrogative: striking down an (already existing) law or constitution
Rejective: striking down a proposal that isn’t law yet - Weight of verdict?
- Binding
- Advisory (but can be informally binding)
The impact of referendums: two contrasting views
Referendums enhance democracy - focus on process
- Allow citizens to decide on issues of great importance
- Direct legitimation of a decision, instead of indirect via party manifestos
- Promote citizens’ participation -> citizens educating and informing themselves
Referendums damage democracy - focus on outcomes
- Majoritarian tool - could exclude minority views/rights
- Low expertise of citizens - poor quality of decisions
- Expressing government approval rather than voting on the issue
Electoral systems, definition
the set of rules that structure how votes are cast at elections and how these votes are then converted into the allocation of offices
Electoral regulation:
ease of ballot access, terms, compulsory voting
Voting behaviour at referendums, two schools / idealtypes:
- Issue voting perspective: voters decide mainly on the basis of the issue on the ballot paper
- Second-order election perspective: voters take little notice of the issue, and cast a vote based on what really matters to them (for example: protest against government)
Reality is somewhere in between
The influence of electoral laws, two types of effects
Mechanical effects: the formula used to translate votes into seats
Psychological effects: behavior of voters and parties
- Demand side (voters):
- in electoral systems in which only the largest party had the chance to win, voters tend to vote strategically to avoid wasting votes on small parties.
- In proportional representation systems voters vote sincerely: their first preference, because their vote isn’t wasted
- Supply side (parties)
- In plurality systems, small parties have the incentive to merge with others.
- In PR systems: parties have no incentive to merge. Increases number of parties.
Second-order elections
are elections that are viewed as less important by voters, parties and the media than ‘first-order’ elections. Second order elections are for example ‘De waterschapsverkiezingen’ and the elections for the European parliament. Turnout is expected to be lower than in national elections, voters are more prone to vote for protest parties, or parties in the periphery of the political system, rather than the usual mainstream parties they would vote for in a national election
