Labor Scarcity, Rural Inequality, and Electoral Reforms: The Determinants of Electoral Reform in the Prussian Electoral System

2015 ◽  
pp. 153-178
Author(s):  
Isabela Mares
Keyword(s):  
Electoral System ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
Electoral Reforms

Explaining the unexpected: electoral reform and democratic governance in Burkina Faso

2003 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Santiso ◽  
Augustin Loada
Keyword(s):  
Burkina Faso ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
Political Outcomes ◽  
Electoral Reforms ◽  
Modes Of Governance ◽  
First Time ◽  
Ruling Party

The parliamentary elections of May 2002 in Burkina Faso saw the ruling party loose its exclusionary grip on power. For the first time since the restoration of democracy in 1991, the parliamentary opposition now represents a sizeable group. While it retains the majority, the ruling party has to share legislative power with the opposition. These elections marginally alter the structure of power in a deeply presidential system of government. Several institutional and electoral reforms have played a critical role in strengthening the mechanisms of ‘vertical accountability’ and representative democracy. By assessing recent electoral reforms in Burkina Faso, the article underlines the importance of the electoral system in multiparty elections and thus contributes to our understanding of the effects of changes in electoral rules on the distribution of political outcomes. In particular, it underscores the contribution that institutional engineering and electoral reform can make to further democratisation in a semi-authoritarian context. While many challenges to democratic governance and the rule of law remain, the new political landscape holds the promise of changes in the style of government and the emergence of more consensual modes of governance.

An intra-party account of electoral system choice

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentin Schröder ◽  
Philip Manow
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
District Level ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Roll Call ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Electoral Reforms

AbstractWe present an intra-party account of electoral reform, contrasting the incentives of legislators (MPs) with those of party leaders. We develop our argument along the switch to proportional representation (PR) in early 20th century Europe. District-level electoral alliances allowed bourgeois MPs to counter the “socialist threat” under the electoral systems in place. PR was thus unnecessary from the seat-maximizing perspective that dominates previous accounts—intra-party considerations were crucial: candidate nomination and legislative cohesion. We show our argument to hold empirically both for the prototypical case of Germany, 1890–1920, using encompassing district-level data on candidatures, elections, electoral alliances, roll call votes and a series of simulations on reform effects; and for the implementation of electoral reforms in 29 countries, 1900–31.

scholarly journals Malaysian Electoral System Reform and the Challenges of its Implementation After the 14th General Election

2022 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 299-312
Author(s):  
Mohamad Fairuz Mat Ali ◽  
Mohammad Agus Yusoff
Keyword(s):  
Electoral System ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
General Election ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
System Reform ◽  
Simple Majority ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Federal Constitution ◽  
Main Challenge ◽  
Electoral Reforms

Prior to the 14th general election (GE-14), electoral practices in Malaysia have been often criticised as being obscure and biased since it was plagued with issues such as dubious voter registers and ballot paper fraud. Therefore, in its manifesto during GE-14, Pakatan Harapan (PH) promised to reform this electoral practice to make it more independent, transparent, and fair. PH then won the GE-14 on the strength of this vow, forcing it to keep its manifesto pledge. However, implementing the said promise is not easy as most of the proposals involve amendments to the Federal Constitution that require the support of at least a two-thirds majority. The fact that PH lacks such a majority has raised the issue of whether or not the objective to reform the electoral system can be materialised. Thus, this article examines the aspects of electoral reform implemented by PH during its 22 months in power and assesses the challenges faced in implementing such electoral system reform. The concept of electoral reform was used as an analytical tool in this article. This article mainly obtained its data from secondary sources including books, journals, theses, official government documents and websites, while primary data were collected from unstructured interviews with authoritative informants. Findings revealed that among the important reforms of the country's electoral system that have been accomplished by PH are improving the standard operating procedures of elections, enhancing election rules that do not require amendments, amending laws that require simple majority support in the parliament, and implementing ‘high-impact’ electoral reforms that require amendments to the Federal Constitution. Moreover, it was also discovered that the main challenge to reforming the electoral system was the constraint of electoral rule amendments that require the approval of a two-thirds majority of parliamentarians. Other obstacles included politicians' unwillingness to accept a new electoral system culture, barriers to accessing data and information owned by other agencies, discrepancies between federal and state legislation, and financial constraints on improving existing hardware and systems necessary for electoral reform success.

Voting after the change: A natural experiment on the effect of electoral reform on party system fragmentation

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-286
Author(s):  
Pedro Riera
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Control Method ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
System Size ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
Synthetic Control ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Electoral Reforms ◽  
Number Of Parties

This article analyses the causal effect of the 1993 electoral reform in New Zealand on party system fragmentation using the ‘synthetic’ control method. Previous studies using cross-national evidence suggest that electoral reforms change the number of parties. However, they do not take into account possible endogeneity problems and usually focus on their short-term effects. Since the electoral system in use in this country before the change was first past the post (FPTP), I can create a ‘synthetic’ control democracy that had the same institutional framework but did not modify the rules of the game. The results indicate that the electoral reform produced the expected effects on party system size at the electoral level, but that these effects tended to disappear in the long run. In contrast, electoral system effects at the legislative level were larger and stickier over time.

The 1999 Electoral Reforms in Indonesia: Debate, Design and Implementation

2000 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dwight Y. King
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
Civil Servants ◽  
Design And Implementation ◽  
Political Evolution ◽  
Electoral Reforms ◽  
Administration And Supervision ◽  
Sensitive Issues

AbstractThis article describes some of the major ways in which the recent electoral reforms changed the Soeharto-era electoral system. The system of only three political parties adhering to a common philosophy (Pancasila) was replaced by hundreds of parties and considerable ideological diversity. To make elections of legislators more meaningful, responsibility for the administration and supervision of elections was placed with more neutral authorities. The reforms enhanced the representativeness, power and accountability of the legislatures in various ways, including multipartyism, establishment of standing subcommissions, bestowal of subpoena power, and decrease in appointed representatives. Particular attention is given to the debate surrounding the most sensitive issues in electoral reform: appointed military representatives, proportional versus district (plurality) electoral principle, and civil servants' involvement in political parties. Despite numerous flaws both in the design of the reforms and in their implementation, reasons for cautious optimism about Indonesia's political evolution are offered in conclusion.

Electoral Systems in Context

2018 ◽  
pp. 850-870 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianluca Passarelli
Keyword(s):  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
System Change ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
Divided Government ◽  
Postwar Period ◽  
Industrialized Democracies ◽  
First Republic ◽  
Electoral Reforms ◽  
Major Reform

Italy stands out among advanced industrialized democracies because of its frequency of major electoral reforms. In the postwar period, Italy has experienced four major electoral systems: the proportional representation (PR) system of the First Republic (1948–1992), mixed-member majoritarian (MMM, 1993–2005), and two varieties of PR with majority bonus (2005–2015, 2015–). In addition, there have been many failed attempts at electoral reform through legislation or referendum. The frequency of electoral reform makes Italy an important case for investigating the causes and effects of electoral system change. However, the path to each change has been somewhat idiosyncratic: the major reform of 1993 came against the backdrop of revelations of massive corruption, while the 2005 reform can be understood as an attempt to engineer divided government by an incumbent coalition expecting losses in the next election. The effects of the electoral reforms have also not always been as expected.

scholarly journals El sistema electoral de Bélgica y sus reformas electorales

2020 ◽  
pp. 503
Author(s):  
Carlos Fernández-Esquer
Keyword(s):  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Coalition Government ◽  
Institutional Reforms ◽  
Electoral Reforms ◽  
El Sistema

El presente artículo aborda el estudio del sistema electoral de la Cámara de Representantes belga y sus reformas electorales. Bélgica fue el primer país europeo en adoptar un sistema de representación proporcional y, desde entonces, sus elementos centrales han exhibido una extraordinaria estabilidad. Sin embargo, con el cambio de siglo, el gobierno de coalición liderado por el liberal Guy Verhofstadt situó el debate sobre las reformas institucionales en el centro de la agenda política. Ello condujo a una reforma electoral que supuso la «provincialización» del mapa electoral, el establecimiento de una barrera electoral del 5 por ciento y la reducción a la mitad del peso de voto de lista. En 2012, se produjo la última reforma electoral, que consistió en la división de la polémica circunscripción de Bruselas-Halle-Vilvoorde. Este último episodio evidencia la complejidad del modelo federal belga, de carácter consociacional, bipolar y con dinámicas centrífugas.This paper deals with the study of the electoral system of the Belgian House of Representatives and its electoral reforms. Belgium was the first European country to adopt an electoral system of proportional representation and, since then, its main elements have exhibited extraordinary stability. However, with the turn of the century, the coalition government headed by the liberal Guy Verhofstadt put the debate on institutional reforms at the center of the political agenda. This led to an electoral reform that involved several novelties: the «provincialization» of the electoral map, the establishment of a 5 percent threshold and the reduction of the list vote weight by half. In 2012, there was the last electoral reform, which consisted of the division of the controversial constituency of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde. This last episode shows the complexity of the Belgian federal model, consociational, bipolar and with centrifugal dynamics. 

Ugandans will clash over much-needed electoral reforms

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Electoral System ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Youth Groups ◽  
Electoral Reforms ◽  
The Many ◽  
Resistance Movement ◽  
First Time ◽  
Better Than ◽  
Opposition Parties

Subject Electoral reform controversies in Uganda. Significance The ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) on July 25 tabled a new electoral reform package in parliament. Opposition parties have already decried the legislation as designed to tighten President Yoweri Museveni’s grip on power. However, the reality is more complex. While some aspects of the bills will, if passed, strengthen Museveni’s position, they also represent a long-overdue attempt to resolve the many problems that bedevil the electoral system. Impacts With the world’s youngest population, the electoral commission will need to register huge numbers of first-time voters before 2021. Youth voters are likely to favour Bobi Wine, but Museveni has made efforts to court youth groups and may perform better than expected. The monetisation of elections may persist, but could shift from internal NRM competition to the battle for youth votes.

scholarly journals Coordinating nominations: how to deal with an incumbent surplus after electoral reform

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Jochen Rehmert
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
System Reform ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Electoral Reforms ◽  
Micro Level

Abstract How do parties and candidates react to electoral system reform? While the literature on causes and consequences of electoral reforms is receiving increasing attention, we lack a systematic micro-level account on how parties and candidates adopt to changes in electoral rules and district boundaries. This paper examines the case of the Japanese Liberal Democrats to explore how the party has managed to accommodate a surplus of incumbents to a reduced number of nominal tier seats following the 1994 electoral reform. By using micro-level data, I examine how the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has matched candidates based on their expected electoral strength and ideological positioning to new districts. Moreover, I investigate how the newly instituted party-list allowed the LDP to avoid its disintegration at the local level by systematically defusing local stand-offs through the handing out of promising list positions. My findings help to understand how the LDP could avoid its disintegration and could continue to dominate Japanese politics until today.

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