Electoral systems

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Introdcution
• Main concern rules for converting votes into seats
• Such rules form the inner workings of democracy
• Duverger (1954) distinguished two effects of electoral systems. The
mechanical effect arises directly from the rules converting votes into
seats. An example is the threshold for representation used in many
proportional systems. The psychological effect is the impact of the
rules on how electors cast their votes

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Electoral systems: legislatures
• The issue in election of legislatures: whether an electoral system
ensures that the seats obtained by a party are directly proportional to
votes received?
• Proportional representation (PR) means that a mechanism to achieve
this goal
• Some electoral systems like the plurality and majority methods – are
non-proportional: Parties may not receive the same proportion of
seats that they have received in terms of votes

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Non-proportional: Plurality and majority
systems
• Non-proportional systems is that in which ‘the winner takes all’: viz.
Canadian riding, American district, British constituency, MP & MLA
elections in India
• Plurality: also called ‘first-past-the-post: who receives most votes in
each electoral district. A plurality of votes suffices; a majority is
unnecessary: antiquity and simplicity; rare and becoming rarer

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Proportional representation
• More recent than non-proportional systems; emerged in continental
Europe towards the end of the nineteenth century
• Guiding principle of PR is to represent parties rather than territory: parties
should be awarded seats in direct proportion to their share of the vote.
• PR are designed with the principle of proportionality in mind, most ‘PR’
systems are not perfectly proportional: Some bonus to the largest party
• Majority governments are unusual and coalitions become standard
• Most common method: the list system. Suppose a party wins 10 per cent
of the vote in an election to a 150-seat assembly. That party will be entitled
to 15 members, who will be the top 15 candidates on its list.

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• List systems vary in terms of the freedom that the voters enjoy in terms of choosing
between voters and party.
• Extreme stand: the closed party lists ( Portugal, South Africa and Spain). In these countries,
voters have no choice over candidates; they simply vote for a party; gives party officials
enormous and excessive control over political recruitment.
• Notwithstanding, most list systems do give voters at least some choice between candidates.
Switzerland and Luxembourg operate exceptionally open lists in which electors are given
the opportunity to vote either for a party’s list or for an individual candidate from the list.
• List systems require multimember constituencies. Normally, the country is divided into a
set of multimember districts and seats are allocated separately within each district
• The number of members returned per district is known as the district magnitude.
• Most list systems add an explicit threshold of representation below which small parties
receive no seats at all. the threshold is a powerful mechanism for reducing fragmentation in
the assembly (Turkey: 10 %; Moldova: 6 %; Czeck, Germany, Poland: 5%; Hungary, Norway,
Sweden: 4 %; Denmark: 2%).
• Hungary and Germany use mixed electoral systems

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 Electoral systems: legislatures
S.N. Sytem Procedures EXAMPLES
A. Plurality and majority systems

1 Simple plurality: Leading candidate elected on first and Bangladesh,

‘first past the post’ only ballot. Canada, India, UK and USA.
2 Absolute majority: Voters rank candidates. If no candidate Australia
alternative vote wins a majority of first preferences, the
(‘preferential bottom candidate is eliminated and his or
vote’) her votes are redistributed according to
second preferences. Repeat until a
candidate has a majority.

3 Two-ballot systems
If no candidate wins a majority on the first Mali, Ukraine (1994 only). For the French
ballot, the leading candidates (usually the National Assembly, all candidates winning
top two) face a second, run-off election. the support of more than 12.5 per cent of
the electorate on the first ballot go
through to the second round. The candidate
securing most votes wins this additional
ballot.

Source: 10/06/2021
Rod Hague and Martin Harrop, Dr Pranav Kumar 7
 Electoral systems: legislatures
S.N. Sytem Procedures EXAMPLES
B. Proportional System
4 List system Votes are cast for a party’s list of candidates though in many Brazil, Czech Republic, Israel,
countries the elector can also express support for individual Netherlands, South Africa and
candidates on the list. Sweden.
5 Single Voters rank candidates in order of preference. Any candidate Ireland, Estonia (1990 only).
transferable needs to achieve as et number of votes (the quota) to be
vote (STV) elected. All candidates are elected who exceed this quota on
first preferences. Their ‘surplus’ votes (that is, the number by
which they exceeded the quota) are then distributed to the
second preferences shown on these ballot papers. When no
candidate has reached the quota, the bottom candidate is
eliminated and these votes are also transferred. Continue until
all seats are filled.
Source: Rod Hague and Martin Harrop,

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 Electoral systems: legislatures
S.N. Sytem Procedures EXAMPLES
C. Mixed System
6 Mixed Some candidates are elected for electoral districts and others Japan, Russia and Thailand
member through PR. Electors normally have two votes. One is for the
majoritarian district election (which usually uses the plurality method) and
(MMM) the other for a PR contest (usually party list). In MMM, these
two tiers are separate, with no mechanism to achieve a
proportional result overall.
7 Mixed As for MMM, except that the two tiers are linked so as to Germany, Italy,
member deliver a proportional outcome overall. The party vote Mexico and Venezuela.
proportional determines the number of seats to be won by each party.
(MMP) or the Elected candidates are drawn first from the party’s winners in
‘Additional the district contests, topped up as required by candidates from
member the party’s list.
system’
(AMS)
Source: Rod Hague and Martin Harrop,

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Electoral systems: presidents
• less attention than those for electing legislatures.
• rules for electing presidents are straightforward, as Unlike seats in
parliament, a one person presidency cannot be shared between
parties; the office is indivisible
• PR is impossible and the main choice is between the plurality and the
majority method.
• presidential electoral systems are more complicated: many, including
the USA, are based on indirect election through a special college
• directly-elected presidents in the world are chosen by a majority
system; to confirm majority backing for a single president
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• Most majority elections for president use a second ballot of the top
two candidates if neither wins a majority of votes in the first round.
France, once more, is a leading case.
• Plurality contests, in which the candidate with most votes on the first
and only round wins, are less common. This technique saves the
expense of two ballots but the winner may receive only a small share
of the vote when several serious candidates emerge.

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References
• Rod Hague and Martin Harrop: Comparative Government and Politics:
An Introduction (Palgrave 1998)
• Heywood, Andrew: Political Theory: An Introduction, 3e (Palgrave
2004)

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