scholarly journals From demands for free and fair elections to electoral reform: The dialogue between government and opposition in Serbia in 2019

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-292
Author(s):  
Milan Jovanović
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Hybrid Regimes ◽  
Quality Of Democracy ◽  
The Government ◽  
Electoral Law ◽  
Opposition Parties

This article analyses the context that led to a dialogue on electoral conditions between the Serbian government and the opposition by applying the methodological matrix of standards for "free and fair" elections as defined by international organizations. Serbian electoral law has implemented international standards, but all electoral cycles have shown a certain level of irregularities that call into question the integrity of a number of electoral processes in the 2012-2017 interval. Two rounds of interparty dialogue produced only partial results. By amending a number of laws, certain election procedures were improved, but they remained in the shadow of unresolved crucial problems. Public broadcasting services remained closed to opposition parties and alternative policies, and the pressure on voters remained present. Instead of improving election conditions, major electoral reform was carried out. The electoral threshold was lowered from 5% to 3%. This form of electoral engineering carried out by the government did not diminish the boycott of the opposition, but it brought about significant changes in the electoral system, the effects of which were felt in the next elections. The epilogue of the dialogue was a boycott of the election by a part of the opposition parties, a politically unrepresentative parliament, and the Serbia's return to the ranks of authoritarian, hybrid regimes in index bases that measure the quality of democracy. The announcement of early elections immediately after the constitution of the national parliament and a new round of dialogue on electoral conditions show that the problem of electoral integrity is still waiting for a solution.

scholarly journals Chile's 2015 Electoral Reform: Changing the Rules of the Game

2016 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 126-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Gamboa ◽  
Mauricio Morales
Keyword(s):  
Electoral System ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
General Interest ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
The Government ◽  
Electoral Law ◽  
Rules Of The Game

AbstractIn 2015, a center-left government introduced an electoral reform that replaced the binomial electoral system governing parliamentary elections since 1989 with a more proportional system. This article provides an account of the reform process, describes the new electoral law, and discusses the factors explaining the reform. We argue, first, that it was possible, due to the incentives the government provided, to secure the support of an ample majority of parliamentarians; also, a new and favorable political scenario had emerged, in which the support of the main right-wing parties was not necessary for the reform to pass. Second, we maintain that the reform sought mainly to resolve problems affecting the parties of the governing coalition related to negotiations of coalition lists for elections. As a complementary objective, the reform promoted a general interest by establishing rules that allowed a “fairer” system of representation and improved competitive conditions.

Electoral-system change in Latvia and the elections of 2010

2011 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 309-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frances Millard
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Unique Feature ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
System Change ◽  
Large Measure ◽  
Preference System ◽  
Electoral Law ◽  
Multiple Constituencies

Latvia’s highly distinctive proportional electoral system owes its origins to Latvia’s 1922 Constitution and the new democracy’s electoral legislation of 1919 and 1922. Latvia’s unique feature lies in its preference system, offering the voters the opportunity to judge each candidate on their party’s list. Although the system appears to maximise responsiveness to voters’ preferences, in practice this promise remained unfulfilled and the representative quality of parliament was questionable. This was in large measure because of the capacity of candidates to stand in multiple constituencies. In 2009 amendments to the electoral law altered this key provision. This change clearly made a difference, but it could not resolve fundamental problems of Latvia’s political process in general and its political parties in particular.

scholarly journals Electoral Reform and Trade-Offs in Representation

2019 ◽  
Vol 113 (3) ◽  
pp. 694-709 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHAEL BECHER ◽  
IRENE MENÉNDEZ GONZÁLEZ
Keyword(s):  
Electoral System ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
Electoral Institutions ◽  
Policy Responsiveness ◽  
Difference Analysis ◽  
Voter Preferences ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Better Than

We examine the effect of electoral institutions on two important features of representation that are often studied separately: policy responsiveness and the quality of legislators. Theoretically, we show that while a proportional electoral system is better than a majoritarian one at representing popular preferences in some contexts, this advantage can come at the price of undermining the selection of good politicians. To empirically assess the relevance of this trade-off, we analyze an unusually controlled electoral reform in Switzerland early in the twentieth century. To account for endogeneity, we exploit variation in the intensive margin of the reform, which introduced proportional representation, based on administrative constraints and data on voter preferences. A difference-in-difference analysis finds that higher reform intensity increases the policy congruence between legislators and the electorate and reduces legislative effort. Contemporary evidence from the European Parliament supports this conclusion.

Japanese Electoral Systems since 1947

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven R. Reed
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Party System ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Quality Of Democracy ◽  
Political Reforms ◽  
Science Theory ◽  
Lower House ◽  
Japanese Diet

This chapter describes and analyzes the electoral systems used to elect members of the Japanese Diet since 1947. The more powerful lower house has used two different electoral systems, and the upper house has used three. The chapter focuses on each system’s effects on the quality of democracy, particularly malapportionment and alternation in power. Electoral systems powerfully influence the quality of democracy. Many of those effects can be predicted by political science theory, but others cannot. The chapter shows that the effects of the first electoral system have long-lasting effects. The institutions and practices developed as the party system develops are not easily changed by later political reforms.

Canada – from its establishment until the modern day

2017 ◽  
pp. 14-23
Author(s):  
Vitaliy Makar
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
Economic Freedom ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
Parliamentary Democracy ◽  
Significant Progress ◽  
Political Structure ◽  
British North America ◽  
The World ◽  
The Government

This year Canada celebrated the 150thanniversary of its official establishment, when the Act of British North America came into force. However, the Dominion was established, the British Parliament retained the ability of limited control over Canada until 1982. The Autonomy was granted by the Canadian Act of 1982, which freed Canada from the remaining dependence of the British Parliament forever. Canada is a federal parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarchy as a formof the government. Noteworthy, the power of the monarch is purely nominal, and is represented by the Governor-General. On the surface, if compared with other countries, Canada appears to be quite recently formed state. In reality, Canada has made significant progress in its development. Importantly, Canada is a member of the G-7. Leading countries and international organizations value the opinion and authority of the Maple Leaf Country. It is one of the most ethnically and culturally varied countries in the world, since it has always depended on immigration, which is governed by federal and provincial governments. Canada has one of the highest indicators of transparency of the government, civil liberties, economic freedom, quality of life and education in the world. The article examines the stages of Canada’s establishment, political structure, economic development and potential opportunities. The author also focuses on the importance of Canadian-Ukrainian relations and collaboration. Currently, Canada is a special partner and pays considerable attention to all events that take place in Ukraine.   Keywords: Canada, provinces, territories, political structure,parliament, economy, Canadian-Ukrainian relations

scholarly journals Introduction: (De)democratisation in Slovenia and Montenegro: Comparing the Quality of Democracy

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 569-592
Author(s):  
Olivera Komar ◽  
Meta Novak
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Party System ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Small Population ◽  
The Political ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Quality Of Democracy ◽  
Eu Integration ◽  
Internal And External Factors

AbstractThis paper creates a framework for the comparison of two similar and yet different democratisation cases – Slovenia and Montenegro. The two countries have obvious similarities: their geography and small population, as well as their common socialist Yugoslav heritage and common aspirations to join international organisations, most importantly the European Union. However, while Slovenia went through the democratisation process rather smoothly, Montenegro took the longer road, struggling for more than a decade to regain its independence and complete its transition. We take into account different internal and external factors in these two cases such as the year of independence and of joining NATO, the political and electoral system, ethnic homogeneity, the viability of civil society, EU integration status, economic development and the presence of war in each territory in order to identify and describe those factors that contributed to the success of democratisation in different areas: the party system, the interest groups system, the defence system, Europeanisation and social policy. We find that the democratisation process in these countries produced different results in terms of quality. Various objective measures of the quality of democracy score Slovenia higher compared to Montenegro, while public opinion data shows, in general, greater satisfaction with the political system and greater trust in political institutions in Montenegro than in Slovenia.

scholarly journals Possible Outcomes of Introducing a Majority System for Elections to the Czech Parliament’s Chamber of Deputies

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-163
Author(s):  
Michal Pink
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Party System ◽  
Significant Risk ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Significant Risk Factor ◽  
Quality Of Democracy ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Common ◽  
Chamber Of Deputies

This paper explores the possibility of introducing a majority electoral system for the Chamber of Deputies in the Czech Republic, and discusses the virtues and drawbacks of such a system. It recalculates the electoral results from two previous elections using majority electoral systems (first-past-the-post and two round majority system) to examine how such a change could influence the formation of governmental majorities in the chamber and what the possible consequences for the quality of democracy in the Czech Republic could be. The results show that majority system would likely radically simplify the formation of governments with clear majorities, and hinder emerging populist parties as well as weaken the communist party. On the other hand, the adoption of a majority system would substantially lower barriers to enter the chamber, which could lead to the disintegration of the party system and its increased fragmentation. Combined with the common practice of Czech politicians to hold various mandates at different levels of the political system at the same time, this could be a significant risk factor.

scholarly journals Jednomandatowe okręgi wyborcze a jakość reprezentacji. Przykład zastosowania jakościowej analizy porównawczej

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-170
Author(s):  
Igor Lyubashenko ◽  
Marta Żerkowska-Balas
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
City Council ◽  
Quality Of Democracy ◽  
The Impact

This article attempts to make an empirical verification of the impact the electoral law on shaping the expectations of voters towards elected representatives. The analysis was conducted using data collected under the project entitled ‘The impact of electoral rules on the quality of local democracy in Poland’, whose fundamental premise was to take advantage of the situation arising after the amendment to the Electoral Code in 2011, as a result of which different electoral regulations were in force in the 2014 local government elections in various similar cities. Therefore, it was possible to verify a number of statements functioning in public space regarding issues, such as the positive impact of single-mandate constituencies on the quality of democracy (in particular, on the quality of democracy at the local level).The purpose of the analysis was to try to find regularities in changes in perceiving the role of councillors that may have occurred as a result of different electoral regulations. To this end, we used the qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) methodology, which allows the study of relationships between sets and the interpretation of these relationships in terms of necessity and sufficiency.The results suggest that the introduction of the majority system in a number of cities in the 2014 local government elections did not lead to the formation of a coherent model of political representation at the city council level, which would be qualitatively different from the representation model characteristic for cities with a proportional electoral system.

Electoral Systems in Context

2017 ◽  
pp. 556-580 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristof Jacobs
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Party System ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Electoral Reform ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Government Formation ◽  
The World ◽  
The Government

The Netherlands has one of the most proportional electoral systems in the world. This chapter details the origins, functioning, and effects of the Dutch electoral system. After providing the historical background of the electoral system, the chapter discusses the allocation of seats both to parties and to candidates and gives practical examples. Afterward, the chapter outlines the effects of the electoral system on the party system, the parties themselves, the composition of the parliament, and the government formation. Lastly, the chapter covers historical and more recent electoral reform debates. It turns out that in the Netherlands, electoral reform is a Sisyphean task: because of the low electoral threshold, electoral reform is always on the table, but given the broad coalitions and rigid constitution, reform attempts typically fail, and the reform discussions have to start all over again.

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.

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