Political Science 2230E Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Plurality Voting System, Canada Elections Act, Elections Canada
Document Summary
Why elections? (cid:862)ele(cid:272)tio(cid:374)s are the defi(cid:374)i(cid:374)g i(cid:374)stitutio(cid:374)s of (cid:373)oder(cid:374) de(cid:373)o(cid:272)ra(cid:272)y(cid:863: legitimacy, authority. Mandates: central for parties coming out of an election. Do elections guarantee democracy: may be necessary but not sufficient, not everyone votes. Is there a bias in results? (cid:894)(cid:271)allots (cid:449)ere(cid:374)(cid:859)t (cid:272)ou(cid:374)ted (cid:272)orre(cid:272)tly etc. ) Date chosen by pm when asks gg to call an election. Average 41-month term, but can go 60 according to constitution. Date chosen to popularity of governing party for maximum electoral benefit/ advantage. Fixed election dates as of may 2007. (cid:862)the third mo(cid:374). of o(cid:272)t. i(cid:374) the fourth cale(cid:374)dar year follo(cid:449)i(cid:374)g the pre(cid:448)ious ge(cid:374)eral ele(cid:272)tio(cid:374)(cid:863) another date(cid:863) (cid:862)the ca(cid:374)ada ele(cid:272)tio(cid:374)s a(cid:272)t does not prevent a general election form being called at. So we have fixed election dates, except when the pm wants to hold the election at another time! (harper broke this law when held federal election in 2008) Country divided into 338 geographic units called constituencies. One candidate from each constituency elected to hoc.