ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the electoral systems, explains how they work, and evaluates the political consequences of their selection and use. It also examines the political motivation and effects of the decision by the British government, as part of the process of partition, to adopt proportional representation (PR) for elections within Northern Ireland and, especially, the subsequent determination by the unionist government to return to plurality rule. The chapter focuses on electoral malpractice, especially the gerrymandering of constituency boundaries and the personation of voters. It explains how proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV) actually works and evaluates it as an electoral system. The chapter considers the surprising decision to adopt a third, markedly different electoral system for the 1996 elections to the Northern Ireland Forum (proportional representation by list system). It explores the consequences of these different electoral systems, principally in terms of their effects on proportionality and the party system.
