ABSTRACT
The third chapter deals with electoral systems and the classification of different voting procedures in legislative elections. To begin with, a description of all relevant electoral formulas is provided, and some classifications in the literature on electoral systems are presented. Thereafter, the typology of electoral systems in this study is constructed. Finally, a descriptive survey of electoral system choice during the relevant time period is conducted. Before describing different voting procedures, we need to distinguish between electoral laws and electoral systems. Electoral laws are the set of rules governing the whole process of elections, including the official calling of elections, suffrage and registration requirements, candidate selection, campaigning, voting procedures and the final determining of election results. Among these electoral laws, the electoral system is concerned with the final stage of the election process: how citizens vote, the style of the ballot paper, constituency structure, the method of counting, and the final determination of who is elected. David M. Farrell presents the following definition: ‘Electoral systems determine the means by which votes are translated into seats in the process of electing politicians into office’ (1998: 5). Blais defines electoral systems as ‘those rules which govern the processes by which preferences are articulated as votes and by which these votes are translated into the election of decision-makers’ (1988: 100). Some words concerning the use of the terms electoral formula and electoral systems also need to be said. In the literature on electoral systems, the term electoral system is frequently used when only one of the three basic elements of an electoral system, namely the electoral formula, is intended. The incorrect usage of the term electoral system is perhaps due to the common classification of electoral systems on the basis of formula. Another reason might be that some formulas, particularly the single-member plurality formula, are widely used in comparison with other formulas of the same electoral system family, and tend to represent the entire electoral system in question. In this study, the term electoral formula is used with reference to those electoral methods that are numbered in Table 3.1. Regarding the broad classification into four categories, electoral system is the appropriate term. Electoral system is also used when the relationship between vote and seat shares is in focus, that is, when a distinction between plurality/majority, semi-proportional and proportional systems is made. Plurality
and majority systems are, moreover, referred to as majoritarian systems in cases where no principal difference between these two is intended. Plurality and majority systems are often regarded as the main alternatives to proportional systems, and, as a consequence, it comes natural to use a common term for the former two. There are two exceptions to the application of formula and system described above. First, the category of list PR contains a large number of countries with different forms of proportional formulas and combinations of other elements, and no list PR systems are exactly alike. List PR is therefore referred to as one form of electoral system rather than a distinct formula. Second, mixed systems are per definition combinations of different formulas, each mixture representing an electoral system in itself.
