Independents and the electoral system

2017 ◽  
pp. 172-204
Author(s):  
Liam Weeks
Keyword(s):  
Causal Relationship ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Contributory Factor ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
System P ◽  
Quantitative Manner ◽  
Australian Experience ◽  
Electoral Data

This chapter focuses on electoral systems, rules and regulations, and how they impact on independents in Ireland and elsewhere. There is a particular emphasis on the electoral system, PR-STV, because it is frequently referred to as a contributory factor behind the significant presence of independents in Ireland. The electoral experience of independents under STV in Ireland is compared with their fate in Australia, the only other country where both independents and STV are present. After establishing the causal relationship between STV and independents’ electoral success in Ireland, the validity of these hypotheses is tested on the Australian experience, more specifically, its seven parliaments currently elected by STV. This is put to the test in a quantitative manner using constituency-level electoral data from Ireland and Australia.

The Spanish Electoral System

2020 ◽  
pp. 388-409
Author(s):  
Agustí Bosch
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
The Other ◽  
Regional Parties ◽  
Lower House ◽  
System P ◽  
The Future ◽  
The One

This chapter examines the Spanish electoral system, meaning—first and foremost—the one used to elect the lower house (Congreso de los Diputados). After a brief description of its components, the chapter assesses how its scarce proportionality has traditionally led Spanish politics towards a two-party system. The chapter also assesses some other of its alleged outcomes (such as the malapportionment, the weight of the regional parties, or the robustness of democracy) and its prospects for the future. Finally, the chapter also examines the ‘other’ Spanish electoral systems—that is, the ones used to elect the Senate, the local councils, the regional parliaments, and the Spanish seats in the European Parliament.

7. The Electoral System

2021 ◽  
pp. 168-196
Author(s):  
Ian Loveland
Keyword(s):  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Recent Survey ◽  
Election Campaigns ◽  
Constitutional Order ◽  
Large Group ◽  
System P ◽  
Electoral Laws ◽  
Significant Mechanism ◽  
Governmental System

A country’s electoral systems are perhaps the most significant mechanism within its constitutional order to ensure that the country’s laws and governmental system attract what Jefferson termed ‘the consent of the governed’. A recent survey of electoral laws in modern democratic societies identified six fundamental characteristics of democratic electoral systems: (i) that virtually all adults may vote; (ii) that elections are held regularly; (iii) that no large group of citizens is prohibited from fielding candidates; (iv) that all legislative seats are contested; (v) that election campaigns are conducted fairly; and (vi) that votes are secretly cast and accurately counted. This chapter examines how well Britain’s electoral system satisfies these tests, first tracing the evolution of the democratic electoral system, followed by a review of the contemporary electoral process.

Electoral Systems in Context

2017 ◽  
pp. 762-780 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian McAllister ◽  
Toni Makkai
Keyword(s):  
House Of Representatives ◽  
Party System ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Secret Ballot ◽  
Compulsory Voting ◽  
Lower House ◽  
System P ◽  
The World ◽  
2016 Election

Australia is often characterized as “a democratic laboratory,” where a wide variety of electoral systems have been designed and implemented. Australia gave the world “the Australian ballot” (or secret ballot), and it is one of the few countries to operate an enforced system of compulsory voting. This chapter examines the evolution of the electoral systems in the lower House of Representatives and in the upper house, the Senate. Particular attention is given to the design of the Senate electoral system, and to the changes that were implemented at the 2016 election to eliminate the proliferation of “micro parties.” The development of compulsory voting is also outlined, and its consequences for the party system evaluated. Finally, the chapter discusses the major challenges to reform of the electoral system.

scholarly journals Experimental Research Design in the Study of Electoral Systems

2017 ◽  
pp. 424-444
Author(s):  
Joshua A. Tucker ◽  
Dominik Duell
Keyword(s):  
Causal Inference ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Experimental Research ◽  
Experimental Work ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
National Level ◽  
Experimental Tests ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
System P

Understanding the effects of electoral systems is of great importance to both scholars and practitioners, and experimental research can be a valuable tool in pursuit of this goal. However, scholars need to think carefully about how to utilize experimental research, especially because the variation in electoral systems in which we are most interested—at the national level—is often impossible or unethical to manipulate. To inform how experiments and related methods of causal inference are then still able to facilitate investigations into the roots and consequences of electoral systems, we situate experimental research within a broader account of research design in the study of electoral systems, summarize existing experimental work, and discuss future avenues. We call for carefully crafting experimental tests in the laboratory and for using “naturally” occurring variation in existing institutions at lower levels of the electoral system.

Electoral Systems in Context

2017 ◽  
pp. 580-600
Author(s):  
Reuven Y. Hazan ◽  
Reut Itzkovitch-Malka ◽  
Gideon Rahat
Keyword(s):  
Party System ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Legislative Behavior ◽  
Reform Initiatives ◽  
Government Formation ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
System P ◽  
Election Results

This chapter, which focuses on the Israeli electoral system as a prototype of an extreme PR system, has five main sections. First, it uses the 2015 election results to analyze the properties of the electoral system and the nature of its outputs. Second, it reviews the three prominent features of the Israeli electoral system and their origins: its PR electoral formula, its nationwide electoral district, and its closed party lists. Third, it examines the developments that led to the consideration and implementation of reform initiatives. Fourth, it assesses the political consequences of the system for parties and the party system, for government formation and durability, and for the legislature and legislative behavior. Fifth, it addresses the puzzle of increased personalization despite the absence of a personalized electoral system.

scholarly journals Women’s Representation in the Post-Soviet Space: Latvia and Lithuania

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Avery Beam
Keyword(s):  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Proportional Representation ◽  
Mixed System ◽  
Women Candidates ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Women In Parliament ◽  
Sheer Number

Using a most-similar case design to compare Latvia and Lithuania, this study examines the role electoral systems play in affecting greater representation of women in post-Soviet democracies. After Latvia’s most recent election, Latvia demonstrated a much higher percentage of women in its parliament (31%) than Lithuania (21%). Interestingly, in spite of having higher descriptive representation, Latvia has no quotas or women's organizations/caucuses while Lithuania implements voluntary quotas and has a prevalent women's caucus. This study advances an institutional argument, hypothesizing that the Latvian parliament's higher percentage of women can be attributed to its proportional representation electoral system. Lithuania has a mixed system that has favored a majoritarian pole, which in turn, has adversely affected women’s electoral success.  In many ways, women’s substantive representation in Latvia and Lithuania is only marginally different. However, in regard to the sheer number of women in parliament, the difference between Lithuania and Latvia proves relatively marked. The Latvian and Lithuanian cases demonstrate that proportional representation electoral systems are more favorable to women candidates than mixed systems, even in the absence of quotas and a women’s movement and particularly in the context of post-Soviet democracies

Regionalism and the Rise of the Populist Far Right in India

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul D. Kenny
Keyword(s):  
National Level ◽  
Political Mobilization ◽  
Recent Experience ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
Indian Politics ◽  
National Office ◽  
System P ◽  
Heads Of State

This chapter addresses India’s more recent experience of populism at the national level. While India has avoided a return to authoritarianism since the Emergency, populism has been a recurrent feature of Indian politics. The persistence of divided party rule between the national and subnational levels has meant an uneasy tension between two different modes of political mobilization for national office. National–subnational coalitions based on the distribution of pork have undergirded several Congress party governments. However, such coalitions remain inherently unstable given the autonomy of India’s subnational unit, and they are vulnerable to outflanking by populist appeals over the heads of state governments. The electoral success of the BJP under Modi in 2014 illustrates the appeal of populist mobilization in a vertically fragmented patronage-based system.

Electoral Systems and Ethnic Minority Representation

2017 ◽  
pp. 158-174
Author(s):  
David Lublin ◽  
Shaun Bowler
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Minority ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Democratic Process ◽  
Minority Representation ◽  
Ethnic Geography

Every democratic process short of unanimity produces opinion minorities. Political divisions along anchored demographic characteristics like language, religion, race, or ethnicity challenge pluralist models of governance by threatening to entrench the exclusion of minority groups from political power. Especially when attuned to ethnic geography, electoral engineering through manipulation of the electoral system and other rules governing the electoral process, such as boundary delimitation, reserved seats, ballot-access requirements, and ethnic party bans, can help promote either inclusion or exclusion of minorities. Ensuring long-term interethnic peace has proved more difficult. Scholars continue to grapple with how to ensure minority inclusion without freezing existing divisions.

scholarly journals Local Candidates, Place-Based Identities, and Electoral Success

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Schulte-Cloos ◽  
Paul C. Bauer
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Unique Feature ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
The Political ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
Matching Strategy

AbstractWhile a large body of literature empirically documents an electoral advantage for local candidates, the exact mechanisms accounting for this effect remain less clear. We integrate theories on the political geography of candidate-voter relations with socio-psychological accounts of citizens’ local attachment, arguing that citizens vote for candidates from their own local communities as an expression of their place-based identity. To test our argument, we exploit a unique feature of the German mixed-member electoral system. We identify the causal effect of candidates’ localness by relying on within-electoral-district variation coupled with a geo-matching strategy on the level of municipalities ($$\hbox {N}=11175$$ N = 11175 ). The results show that voters exhibit a strong bias in favor of local candidates even when they are not competitive. More than only expecting particularistic benefits from representatives, citizens appear to vote for candidates from their own local community to express their place-based social identity.

Special elections in alternative vote electoral systems: Exploring turnout and the vote in Irish by-elections 1923–2019

2021 ◽  
pp. 136914812110457
Author(s):  
Stephen Quinlan
Keyword(s):  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Government Performance ◽  
Multifaceted Approach ◽  
Decisive Effect ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Alternative Vote ◽  
National Economic ◽  
The Impact

Most literature on special elections has focused on first-past-the-post contests and on the performance of governments. Turnout, candidates, and how the electoral system impacts the result have received less attention. This contribution fills these voids by exploring special elections in Ireland, elections conducted under the alternative vote system. Taking a multifaceted approach, it investigates the correlates of turnout, the impact of candidates and the decisive effect of lower preferences, while also testing multiple explanations of government performance. I find Irish special elections live up to the by-election truisms of lower turnout and government loss. Government performance is associated with national economic conditions. By-election victory is more likely among candidates with familial lineage and former members of parliament. Where they come into play, one in five candidates owe their victory to lower preferences.

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