ABSTRACT
Bivariate associations are studied by means of chi-square tests. The number and frequencies of electoral system choice within each category of the independent variable are given in Table 6.1. The sample consists of 62 cases: 40 of these are associated with a parliamentary form of government; one-half of the parliamentary regimes are combined with plurality systems, one with majority, 11 with proportional, and eight are combined with mixed systems. Most of the parliamentary-plurality countries are former British colonies. The frequency of different electoral systems among parliamentary democracies corresponds rather well to the frequency of systems in the whole research population. A different pattern is observed among semi-presidential countries. Only Lebanon has combined semi-presidentialism with plurality, whereas three of a total of four majority systems have been chosen by semi-presidential regimes. Yet, two of these three systems have been adopted in France. Countries that have chosen a semipresidential form of government and mixed electoral systems are Suriname (1975), Seychelles (1976) and Madagascar (1998). Almost one-half of the semi-
presidential countries have adopted PR. Plurality systems are frequently represented in presidential regimes; only Cyprus has combined presidentialism with PR. A total of three cases of presidentialism combined with mixed systems are identified: Venezuela (1993), Bolivia (1997) and the Philippines (1998). To some extent, the findings correspond with the expectations and the pattern is significant at the 0.05 level. The majoritarian model is well represented – onethird of the cases combine a parliamentary form of government with plurality elections. However, a majority of the presidential regimes are also related to the plurality system, whereas the consensus model is represented by one country only. Even among PR countries, the parliamentary executive model is the most common.
