ABSTRACT
The Electoral Act by which the system of election was regulated, maintained, broadly speaking, the existing disabilities. One exception perhaps deserves mention. The receipt of poor relief was no longer regarded as a fit ground for disqualification. The difficulties confronting the emergence of the new State were so great that, in matters of secondary importance, an adoption of the existing system was the obvious course to be pursued. In one respect the history of representation in Ireland gave an exceptional opportunity for judging the merits of different electoral systems. Till the open conflict between the British and Irish forces, the simple majority system had been in practice. The more general reasons for the abolition of the single-member constituency deserve to be mentioned. The system, indeed, entails obvious disadvantages. Since the voters in any given district are grouped into several antagonistic parties only a fraction of them can be represented by the single deputy who is elected.
