CAS PO 151 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Open List, Closed List, Proportional Representation
10 Aug 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Vertical Accountability
Some mechanisms are top-down
Some are bottom-up and focus on citizen involvement in civil society
o Civil society: “the sphere of organized citizen activity between the state and the individual
family or firm.”
Concerned with participation and representation
Institutions of Participation/Representation
Formal
o Electoral system: “formal, legal mechanism that translates votes into control over political
offices and shares of political power”
o Political party: “associations that seek to formally control government”
Formal: civil society
o Interest groups
Informal: civil society
o Social movements
Electoral Systems
They’re mainly relevant to legislative elections
Key question: for each race, is there one winner or more than one winner?
Key question: do votes choose a candidate, a party, or both?
Single Member Districts (SMD)
One winner per district; voters choose a candidate
Each party runs one candidate
Two major forms:
o Plurality/first-past-the-post (FPTP): largest vote share wins
o Majority runoff: second round held if no candidate gets more than 50%
Features:
o Territorial representation
o Strong parties with national support do best
o Regionally dominant parties can also do well
o Some parties will get no seats
o Tends to produce single party majority legislatures
o Seat shares not proportionate to vote shares
Proportional Representation (PR)
Multiple winners per district; voters choose a party
Each party runs a list of candidates
Seats awarded proportionally to parties
Two major forms:
o Closed list- party leaders order the list
o Open list- voters order the list
Features:
o Party representation
o Parties with low levels of nationally distributed support can get seats
o Many different parties typically get seats
o Seat shares proportionate to vote shares
o Open list creates intense competition Brazil has open list representation
o Closed list empowers party elites
In Brazil’s system, 22 parties got seats, but that makes it more difficult to come to a decision.
Mixed Electoral Systems
Voters choose an SMD candidate, also a party
Winners of SMD races get seats
Party votes determine target proportionality; extra seats filled from party lists
Document Summary
One winner per district; voters choose a candidate. Two major forms: plurality/first-past-the-post (fptp): largest vote share wins, majority runoff: second round held if no candidate gets more than 50% Features: territorial representation, strong parties with national support do best, regionally dominant parties can also do well, some parties will get no seats, tends to produce single party majority legislatures, seat shares not proportionate to vote shares. Multiple winners per district; voters choose a party. Each party runs a list of candidates. Two major forms: closed list- party leaders order the list, open list- voters order the list. In brazil"s system, 22 parties got seats, but that makes it more difficult to come to a decision. Voters choose an smd candidate, also a party. Party votes determine target proportionality; extra seats filled from party lists. Features: territorial and party representation, often a few large parties, but also small parties get seats. Dominant party system: single party consistently wins majority.
