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election

is adecision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold formal office. This is the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracyfills offices in the legislature, sometimes in theexecutiveand judiciary, and for regionalandlocal government.This process is also used in many other private and businessorganizations, from clubs tovoluntary associationsandcorporations. The universal use of elections as a tool for selecting representatives in modern democracies is incontrast with the practice in the democraticarchetype, ancient Athens. Elections were considered an oligarchicinstitution and most political offices were filled usingsortition, also known as allotment, by which officeholders were chosen by lot.Electoral reformdescribes the process of introducing fair electoral systems where they are not in place, or improving the fairness or effectiveness of existing systems.Psephologyis the study of results and other statisticsrelating to elections (especially with a view to predicting futureresults).

This article is part of the

Politics

series

Elections

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Allotment ( sortition

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Criticisms of electoralism

Terminology

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Apportionment

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Crossover voting

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Gerrymandering

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Redistribution (redistricting)

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Secret ballot

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Suffrage

Subseries

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Political party

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Voting

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Voting systems

Lists

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Elections by country

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Election results by country

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Electoral calendar

Politics portal

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Contents

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1 Ideology

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2 Characteristics of elections

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2.1 Nomination

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2.2 Who is elected

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2.3 Types of elections

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2.4 Electoral systems

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2.5 Scheduling

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3 Election campaigns

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4 Difficulties with elections

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5 Elections around the world

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[edit] Ideology

In Book II, Chapter 2 of his book 'The Spirit of Laws', Montesquieu states that in the case of elections in either a republic or a democracy, voters alternate between being the rulers of thecountry and being the subjects of the government. By the act of voting, the people operate in asovereign (or ruling) capacity, acting as "masters" to select their government's "come."

[edit] Characteristics of elections

Further information:Suffrage

The question of who may vote is a central issue in elections. The electorate does not generallyinclude the entire population; for example, many countries prohibit those judged mentallyincompetent from voting, and all jurisdictions require a minimum age for voting.Historically, other groups of people have also been excluded from voting. For instance, the democracy of ancient Athens did not allow women, foreigners, or slaves to vote, and the originalUnited States Constitutionleft the topic of suffrage to the states; usually only white male property owners were able to vote. Much of the history of elections involves the effort to promote suffrage for excluded groups. The women's suffragemovement gave women in many countries the right to vote, and securing the right to vote freely was a major goal of theAmericancivil rights movement.Extending the right to vote to other groups which remain excluded insome places (such as convictedfelons,members of certain minorities, and the economically disadvantaged) continues to be a significant goal of voting rights advocates.Suffrage is typically only for citizens of the country. Further limits may be imposed: for example,in Kuwait, only people who have been citizens since 1920 or their descendants are allowed to vote, a condition that the majority of residents do not fulfill. However, in the European Union,one can vote in municipal elections if one lives in the municipality and is an EU citizen; thenationality of the country of residence is not required.Campaigners working on posters in Milan, Italy, 2004In some countries, voting isrequired by law; if an eligible voter does not cast a vote, he or shemay be subject to punitive measures such as a small fine.

[edit] Nomination

Arepresentative democracyrequires a procedure to govern nomination for political office. Inmany cases, nomination for office is mediated through preselectionprocesses in organised political parties.

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Non-partisan systems tend to differ from partisan systems as concerns nominations. In adirectdemocracy, one type of non-partisan democracy,any eligible person can be nominated. In some non-partisan representative systems no nominations (or campaigning, electioneering, etc.) take place at all, with voters free to choose any person at the time of voting—with some possibleexceptions such as through a minimum age requirement—in the jurisdiction. In such cases, it is