Week 9 (Elections) Flashcards
What is an electoral system?
The set of rules that govern how votes are cast, and seats allocated, at elections.
What are the three elements of electoral systems?
- Electoral formula (plurality/majority, PR, mixed systems)
- Ballot structure (party lists, candidates… one vote, ranking of preferences)
- District magnitude (how many representatives elected for a district)
How do majoritarian/plurality systems work?
They use single-member constituencies.
- FPTP - each voter casts one vote; candidate with greatest number of votes is elected
- AV/IRV - voters rank candidates, with candidates eliminated and votes transferred
- Two-round systems - if no candidate wins a majority; the top candidates advance to a second round, in which a plurality is needed to win
Ex: UK, USA (both FPTP), Australia (AV/IRV), France (two-round).
How do PR systems work?
PR systems use multi-member constituencies, and attempt to give parties roughly the same proportion of seats as votes.
- PR systems can vary in district magnitude. Netherlands = 150 MPs per district; Spain = roughly 7 MPs per district.
- In party-list PR, citizens vote for an electoral list associated with a party; these lists can be closed or open.
- In STV, citizens rank candidates; candidates are eliminated and votes transferred until the required number of candidates is elected.
Ex: Spain (closed-list), Brazil (open-list), Ireland (STV).
How do mixed electoral systems work?
A combination of majoritarian and proportional systems.
- Voters cast two votes: one for a candidate and one for a party.
- Most mixed systems are compensatory, using compensatory seats to ensure overall proportionality. Others are parallel, with no attempt to rectify the over-representation of larger parties in the constituency vote.
Ex: Germany; Scottish devolved parliament.
What is Duverger’s law?
Duverger’s law holds that majoritarian voting systems tend to favour two-party systems, while proportional voting systems tend to favour multi-party systems.
