Electoral Systems

1. Electoral Systems

2. Overview: Before lunch • Majoritarian and consensus democracy? • Varieties of electoral systems: • Winner-take-all • Proportional representation • Mixed • Dimensions for evaluating institutions • Normative • Positive • Endogenous electoral rules

3. Overview: After lunch • The complex relationship between social cleavages, issue preferences, electoral systems, and party systems

4. Lijphart • WestminsterConsensus Democracy • 1) Concentrated executive power Power sharing in the executive (coalition) • 2) Cabinet Dominance Executive/Legislative Balance • 3) 2-party Multiparty • 4) Plurality Elections Proportional Representation • 5) Pluralist interest groups Corporatism, peak associations, etc. • 6) Unitary Decentralized • 7) Unicameral legislature Strong Bicameralism • 8) Constitutional Flexibility Constitutional Rigidity • 9) No judicial review Strong role for judicial review • 10) Central Bank controlled by Central Bank independence • executive

6. SMDP Systems • A single-member district plurality (SMDP) system is one in which individuals cast a single vote for a candidate in a single-member district. The candidate with the most votes wins. • Examples: United Kingdom, India, Canada, Nigeria, Zambia

7. How does SMDP work?

8. The Alternative Vote • http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/interactive/2010/may/10/proportional-representation-alternative-vote-plus

10. Two-Round Systems • A two-round system (TRS) has the potential for two rounds of elections. • Candidates or parties are automatically elected in the first round if they obtain a specified level of votes, typically an absolute majority. • If no candidate or party wins this level of votes, then a second round of elections takes place. • Those candidates or parties that win the most votes in the second round are elected.

11. Who would win Aberconwy under TRS?

12. Two-Round Systems • Examples: • Most presidential elections in Latin America • French legislative and presidential elections

13. Proportional Electoral Systems • A proportional, or proportional representation, electoral system is a quota- or divisor-based electoral system employed in multimember districts. • The rationale behind PR systems is to produce a proportional translation of votes into seats. • Proportional electoral systems can be divided into those that use party lists and those that do not.

14. Proportional Representation • How would a PR system work in the UK?

15. Votes and Seats, May 2010

16. List PR • In a list PR system, each party presents a list of candidates for a multimember district. • Parties receive seats in proportion to their overall share of the votes. • These seats are then shared among candidates on the list in various ways.

17. List PR • List PR systems differ in important ways: • The precise formula used to allocate seats to parties • The district magnitude • The use of electoral thresholds • The type of party list employed.

18. Divisors, etc. • Some are more proportional, some more friendly to larger parties

19. District Magnitude • However, the key variable for determining the proportionality of an electoral system is the district magnitude. • The district magnitude is the number of representatives elected in a district. • The larger the district magnitude, the greater the degree of proportionality.

20. District Magnitude • Although all PR systems use multimember districts, the average size of these districts can vary quite a lot. • In the Netherlands and Slovakia, the average district magnitude is 150. • In Chile, the average district magnitude is 2.

21. Additional details about PR • Thresholds (e.g. Germany) • Open vs. Closed Lists

22. Types of Party List • In a closed party list, the order of candidates elected is determined by the party itself, and voters are not able to express a preference for a particular candidate. • In an open party list, voters can indicate not just their preferred party but also their favored candidate within that party.

23. Closed Party List • The electoral formula determines how many seats a party wins. • In a closed list system, these party seats are allocated according to the order of the party list. • Example: If a party wins 10 seats, then the top 10 candidates on the party list are elected.

25. Open Party List • The electoral formula determines how many seats a party wins. • In an open list system, these party seats are allocated according to whichever party candidates win the most votes. • Example: If a party wins 10 seats, then the top 10 vote-winners on the party list are elected.

27. Closed versus open list • Implications?

28. Mixed Electoral Systems • An electoral tier is a level at which votes are translated into seats. • The lowest electoral tier is the district level. Higher tiers are constituted by grouping together lower tier constituencies; they are typically at the regional or national level. • Many mixed electoral systems have multiple electoral tiers, with majoritarian formulas used in a lower tier and proportional formulas used in a higher tier.

29. So what? Dimensions for evaluating electoral institutions

30. Dimensions for analyzing democratic institutions • Protection of liberty • Protection of minorities • Decisiveness, especially under stress • Credibility of commitments • Stability • Quality of democracy • Representativeness • Accountability • Rent-seeking and corruption

31. Dimensions for analyzing democratic institutions (cont.) • Public versus private goods • Broad versus targeted programs and expenditures • The extent of redistribution • Budget deficits • Size of government as a share of GDP

32. Protection of liberty • PR and minorities

33. Decisiveness? • Are coalition governments less decisive? • What about minority governments?

34. Credibility of commitments? • Again, coalition versus single-party government

35. Stability • Weimar Germany?

36. Quality of Democracy

37. Representativeness • What can go wrong under PR? • What can go wrong under SMDP?

38. Accountability • Clarity of responsibility • How important are districts?

39. Corruption • Barriers to entry • Party lists

40. Public vs. private goods, broad vs. targeted policies • Geography and marginal districts • Core support vs. swing district models. • Do small districts encourage pork?

41. Endogenous electoral rules • Functionalist arguments about social heterogeneity • Colonial and historical legacies • Strategic elites • Boix • Calvo • Strategic fools?