POLI 212 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Matteo Salvini, Proportional Representation, Tactical Voting
17 May 2018
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POLI 212 - Lecture 14
03/19/2018
Topic 6: Coalitions
● Recap
○ Regimes
○ Parties
■ How is political competition organized?
○ Coalitions
■ What happens ‘the morning after’?
■ Why are coalitions more common in Europe than in North America?
■ How do parties with different priorities come together and govern
effectively?
● In the News
○ Merkel wins Christian Democratic Union party’s backing for German coalition
deal
■ Delegates vote overwhelmingly for renewing alliance with SDP
○ Italy coalition talks: Far-right leader Matteo Salvini refuses to accept any prime
minister other than himself
■ Italy faces potentially complicated coalition talks after election
■ Italy right-wing leader says open to coalition with 5-Stars
● Types of Electoral Systems
○ Mechanism for translating votes into seats
■ Single-Member Plurality (SMP)
■ Proportional Representation (PR)
■ Majoritarian system
■ Mixed systems
● SMP Electoral Systems
○ Also known as ‘first-past-the-post’ systems (FPTP)
○ Commonly used in British-influenced systems
■ E.g.: Canada, India, Singapore, UK, United States national elections
■ But then again: Australia, Ireland, New Zealand
○ Involves getting the most votes for a single seat to be filled
○ East to understand and easy to count
○ Direct lines of accountability between representative and electors
○ Tends to return majority governments
○ No majority (just plurality) necessary to win
■ Is this really ‘democratic’?
○ Results in fewer political parties
■ Think: median voter
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Merkel wins christian democratic union party"s backing for german coalition deal. Delegates vote overwhelmingly for renewing alliance with sdp. Italy coalition talks: far-right leader matteo salvini refuses to accept any prime minister other than himself. Italy faces potentially complicated coalition talks after election. Italy right-wing leader says open to coalition with 5-stars. : canada, india, singapore, uk, united states national elections. But then again: australia, ireland, new zealand. Involves getting the most votes for a single seat to be filled. East to understand and easy to count. Direct lines of accountability between representative and electors. No majority (just plurality) necessary to win. Is this a good or bad thing. Can distort the translation of votes into seats. Leads to the perception of wasted votes. Linked to the issue of low turnout. Smp v. pr in 2015 canadian election: table graphic. Bc sets stage for 2018 referendum on electoral reform. Trudeau announces plan to kill first-past-the-post by next election.
