Compulsory Electoral System

Electoral systems are one of the most solid democratic foundations and its stability demonstrates that they are intrinsically conservative. Historically, there have only been very minor adjustments made to the rules and regulations surrounding the administration of elections such as amendments to the laws governing election broadcasts, constituency redistricting and financial disclosure (Norris, 1997). However, fundamental reform on the basic electoral system (or in other words the way votes are translated into seats) has been very recent and rare. In fact, only in the last two decades has electoral reform been discussed due to a rising concern over government legitimacy. The United Kingdom is a prime example, as many of their parties and

The paper will then evaluate these key electoral systems in different countries including established and emerging democracies, at different levels of economic and political development, to examine the effects of electoral systems under a variety of conditions. Also, the paper will be focused predominantly on national parliamentary elections for the lower house in each country in order to draw fair

Although there are many different types of PR, this outlines the basic requirement for a system to be classified as proportional. Rather than the winner-take all approach of other systems, PR ensures that votes carry equal weight through a multi-member constituency system. Consequently, this means that a single area elects more than one representative and the size of this area varies according to the system.

Different PR systems have different ways of electing candidates. With some it is possible to vote only for a party, with others directly for candidates. The foundation of PR is that the seats in a constituency are divided according to the number of votes cast for party list. There are various ways in which it is implemented. For instance in the Netherlands, Norway and Italy there are open party lists in which voters can select particular candidates within the list. Closed lists, like in Israel, Spain and Germany, only permit voters to choose parties (not individuals). In this case the political party determines the ranking of candidates. Also, party lists can be either national, like in Israel, or regional such as in Belgium (Norris, 1997). In Europe, PR is the most widespread, and worldwide 82 out of 180 countries use PR (International Institute for Democracy and Electoral