1. Comparative Analysis of Democratization prof. Fulvio Venturino
Comparative Politics
Principles of Democracy and Democratization
Chapter 7: Electoral Systems

2. Elections for what? Elections are used to choose heads of state
heads of government
members of the legislature

3. What is relevant in an electoral system?
the electoral formula
the district magnitude
the ballot structure
the electoral thresholds

4. Types of electoral formulas
Plurality (FPTP): the candidate who receives the most votes, but not necessarily the majority of the vote, wins the election
Majority: candidates win the office in a single round of voting by gaining a majority of the ballots cast; if this is not the case, a runoff round is held at a subsequent date with the top two finishers running
Proportional Representation (PR): the proportion of a party’s seats in the legislature reflects the strength of the party in the electorate

5. District magnitude Single-member district Multi-member district
Multiple districts
Single national district

6. Ballot structure Choosing candidates Choosing parties
closed party list systems
open party list systems
Choosing parties
categorical systems
ordinal systems

7. Electoral thresholds
Thresholds qualify parties to obtain representation in the legislature. They are an increasingly common way for PR systems to limit the entry of minor parties into legislatures
2 percent: Israel
5 percent: Germany and Belgium
10 percent: Turkey

8. So what? Plurality systems involve
winner-takes-all formula
small district magnitudes
categorical ballot structures
Proportional representation systems involve
proportional formulae
large district magnitude
categorical ballot structures (on occasion ordinal ballots, as with STV

9. The effects of electoral systems
The scholarly work on the effects of electoral systems has focused on
the relationship between electoral rules and the ideological polarization and size of political party systems
the tendency of electoral systems to impact voter turnout and citizen participation
the potential for electoral systems to affect the course of democratic development

10. The effects on party system
Plurality systems provide for incentives for political moderation in the party system and the political system generally
Plurality systems tend to reduce the number of parties and hence promotes governmental stability

11. The impact on voter choice and turnout 1
Plurality systems encourage strategic voting, where voters prevent their least preferred choice from getting elected
Many voters under such conditions vote against their least preferred candidates, as opposed to voting for their most preferred
This ‘voting against’ behavior makes voters susceptible to negative campaigning

12. The impact on voter choice and turnout 2
Under PR there is a greater likelihood of electoral success for minor parties
Hence voter efficacy (the sense that one’s vote counts) and the incentives to cast ballots should increase
Thus, voter turnout is generally much higher in countries that use PR systems when compared to countries that use FPTP electoral rules

13. Electoral systems and democratic transition
Many potential cases to test these theories
post-communist states in Central and Eastern Europe
post-authoritarian countries throughout Africa, Latin America, and Asia
countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan

14. The relevance of electoral engineering for transitions
Encouragement of women’s representation
Promotion of interethnic accommodation in ethnically divided societies
Improvement of the citizens’ satisfaction with the political system

15. The case of Alternative Voting (AV)

16. AV logics

17. AV in practice

18. The advantages of AV
supporters from one ethnic group may choose moderate candidates associated with the other ethnic group ahead of radical candidates associated with their own ethnic group
candidates seek second preferences votes outside their own ethnic group, thus they have an incentive to adopt conciliatory or moderate stances on ethnically divisive issues
AV provides an incentive for parties to make post-election deals on divisive issues