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.

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.

Electoral Systems in the Making

2019 ◽  
pp. 193-218
Author(s):  
Daniel Bochsler
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Cultural Heterogeneity ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Electoral Reforms ◽  
History Of ◽  
Structural Theories

Most research on electoral systems deals with the effects of institutions on political representation. However, political parties design the electoral systems, and thereby navigate between self-interest and multiple, often nonreconcilable normative ideals. This chapter reviews the growing literature on the choice of electoral systems from different perspectives. Structural theories explain that the choice of electoral systems is closely linked to the history of suffrage extensions, cultural heterogeneity and the organization of the economy. Agency-based theories highlight how parliamentary majorities strategically pass electoral reforms in order to consolidate their power in the long run—for instance, in order to avoid future losses in elections. However, often lawmakers fail to predict their electoral fortunes and therefore pass reforms that turn out not to be in their favor, or they even contribute to undermining their own reforms later with strategic maneuvers. Finally, the chapter analyzes the choice of electoral system in the context of transitions toward democracies and in former colonies.

scholarly journals Democratic Ruptures and Electoral Outcomes in Africa: Ghana's 2016 Election

2018 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
George M. Bob-Milliar ◽  
Jeffrey W. Paller
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Democratic Culture ◽  
Democratic Development ◽  
Electoral Outcomes ◽  
Party Realignment ◽  
2016 Election ◽  
Electoral Reforms

Repetitive elections are important benchmarks for assessing the maturity of Africa's electoral democracies. Yet the processes through which elections entrench a democratic culture remain understudied. We introduce an important mechanism called a democratic rupture: an infraction in the democratisation process during competitive elections that has the potential to cause a constitutional crisis. It provides a new avenue of citizen participation outside of voting, and political space for opposition party realignment and to strengthen its support. Drawing from the case of Ghana, we show how the 2012 presidential election petition challenge served as a democratic rupture by contributing to the opposition's victory in 2016, enabling its political development. First, it exposed flaws in the electoral system and led to demands for electoral reforms. Second, it led to citizens being better educated on the electoral process. Third, it taught political parties that vigilance at the polling stations can help win elections. The article provides a critical analysis of the factors that shape democratic development, especially in cases where opposition parties defeat incumbent politicians.

Congo’s electoral reform process will pose challenges

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
Popular Vote ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Electoral Reforms ◽  
Electoral Cycles ◽  
Sensitive Issues ◽  
Reform Debate

Significance After three successive electoral cycles (2006, 2011 and 2018) of decreasing legitimacy, one of the most sensitive issues on the new government’s agenda is electoral reform. Impacts The electoral reform debate may also strain the government’s relations with civil society actors whose support it needs in other domains. International partners will likely encourage electoral reforms but urge respect of the 2023 deadline for the next elections. Having senators and governors elected by popular vote could reduce corruption risks without greatly complicating the electoral format.

Electoral Reform or Not: Party Interests Defeated Principled Arguments in the Late Nineteenth Century and Have Characterised the UK’s Electoral System Since

2020 ◽  
pp. 147892991989324
Author(s):  
Ron Johnston
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
House Of Commons ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Class A ◽  
Election Results

Conti’s Parliament the Mirror of the Nation is an excellent, thorough exploration and explication of nineteenth-century debates over electoral reform as members of Britain’s intellectual elite wrestled with the issue of how to create a system that would ensure that all opinions were advanced in the country’s Parliament without an expansion of the franchise, meaning that the House of Commons was overwhelmed by the working class. A superb contribution to intellectual history, however, it makes little contact with the ‘real world’ of politics, where the short-term interests of the dominant political parties led to pragmatic rather than idealistic resolution to that issue. That resolution, negotiated by leading politicians from the two main parties, led to an electoral reform in 1885 based on single-member, territorially based constituencies that, with modifications only, remains in place today, generating general election results that are both disproportional and biased as a consequence of the system’s geographical construction

Political Reform in Israel

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gideon Rahat
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Political Reform ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
The Government

Israel has experienced both failed and successful attempts to reform its democratic institutions in the seventy years since its founding. The most noteworthy failure has been in the promotion of much-needed electoral reform that would moderate the “extreme” features of the hyper-representative, party-centered electoral system. Successes range from small modifications of the electoral system to wide-ranging reforms of the government system at the local and national levels and within political parties. These reforms injected doses of majoritarianism and personalism into the system. But they did not help to solve the problems in the functioning of the Israeli regime; in fact, they often made them worse.

scholarly journals La reforma de los sistemas electorales autonómicos tras las elecciones de 24 de mayo de 2015: vectores políticos y jurídicos

2018 ◽  
pp. 185
Author(s):  
Rosario García Mahamut
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Legal Reform ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Standard Setting ◽  
Current Status ◽  
The Political ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
Electoral Reforms

Este trabajo analiza el estado en el que se hallan las distintas reformas electorales que se han impulsado en diversos ordenamientos autonómicos tras las elecciones autonómicas de 2015. Los resultados de las mismas se han traducido en un escenario político profundamente fragmentado y, en buena parte, deudor del compromiso adquirido por los partidos con los ciudadanos de hacer efectivas las oportunas reformas electorales que garantizaran, entre otras, un sistema electoral más justo e igualitario. Se analizan y contextualizan los distintos instrumentos normativos a través de los cuales se están llevando a cabo, así como las distintasopciones sobre las que descansa la necesidad de la concreta reforma.This paper analyses the current status of the different electoral reforms which have been promoted in various regional legal systems after the autonomous elections of 2015. The results of these elections have led to a deeply fragmented political scenario and, largely, debtor of the commitment undertaken by the political parties with the citizenship to make effective the adequate electoral reforms that would guarantee, inter alia, a more equal and fair electoral system. Various standard-setting instruments are analysed and contextualised, as well as the alternative options on which the need for a concrete legal reform rely.

Two-party Contests and the Politics of Electoral Reforms: The Case of Taiwan

2014 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 658-681 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eunju Chi
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Party Competition ◽  
Democratic Progressive Party ◽  
Mixed System ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
The Public ◽  
Electoral Reforms ◽  
Rational Choices ◽  
Progressive Party

This article examines how party competition has led to electoral reforms in Taiwan. Dissatisfied with the existing system, political parties in Taiwan promoted electoral reforms. The Democratic Progressive Party led the reform process and the Kuomintang collaborated with it to change the electoral system from a single non-transferable vote and multi-member district system to a first-past-the-post mixed system. Despite opposition to the changes, these two parties successfully formed a coalition and passed reform bills with the support of the public. Using a theoretical framework of actors’ rational choices, this article argues that the parties’ goals of maximizing the number of seats and strategic interaction led to electoral reforms, and that during the reforms, the provision that the first-past-the-post system would provide more seats in the Legislative Yuan was crucial for the two parties. The article supports this argument with evidence from interviews, biographies and documents.

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.

State Election Commission: Unravelled

2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 531-542
Author(s):  
Anita Bhatnagar Jain
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Urban Population ◽  
Uttar Pradesh ◽  
Organisational Structure ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Electoral Reforms ◽  
Service Conditions ◽  
Sensitive Issues ◽  
Election Commission

India, the biggest democracy, is over 70 years old. Besides other regulatory authorities, election commissions have played a pivotal role in its formation. State election commissions (SECs) got the constitutional footing via the 73rd and 74th Amendments in 1993. Articles 243K and 243ZA provided for the elections to panchayats and municipalities, respectively. The panchayats comprise of district, block and village levels, while the municipalities include three levels based on the slab of urban population. The present study focuses on the SEC of Uttar Pradesh on various variables, including service conditions of commissioner, organisational structure, increasing responsibility, budget, use of technology and electronic voting machines (EVMs), measures to ensure transparency and objectivity and so on. The study surmises the challenge of evolving complexion of SECs in the changing environment. However, the role of various political parties and citizens and the sensitive issues of electoral reforms have to be simultaneously addressed for ensuring real democracy.

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