Majoritarian, proportional and mixed electoral processes. Majoritarian and proportional electoral systems

It is difficult to imagine modern democracy without such an element as the electoral system. Most political scientists are strikingly unanimous in their appreciation of the role of elections in the modern democratic process. Its governing structure can easily be called the electoral system.

Definition of the electoral system

Code formally certain rules and techniques, the main purpose of which is to ensure the participation of the country’s citizens in the formation of a number of government agencies, called the electoral system. Since in modern societies there are not only parliamentary and presidential elections, but also elections to other government bodies, we can say that electoral systems make a significant contribution to the formation of the democratic foundations of society.

Before they formed modern types electoral systems, countries that chose democratic ideals had to go through a long and thorny path struggle against class, racial, property and other restrictions. The twentieth century brought with it the formation of a new approach to the electoral process, based on the development international system norms based on the principle of freedom of choice.

In countries that have created true democratic institutions, political systems have developed that provide access to power and political decision-making only on the basis of the results of the free universal choice of citizens. The method that allows one to obtain this result is voting, and the features of the organization of this process and the counting of votes represent the established types of electoral systems.

Main criteria

To understand the functional orientation of the electoral system and attribute it to one type or another, one should have an idea of what national elections are. Types of electoral systems make it possible to complement the understanding of the electoral process, outline the goals and main tasks they serve. Their essence is to translate decisions made by voters into a constitutionally defined number of government powers and a certain number of seats in parliament. The difference lies in what exactly will be used as a selection criterion: the majority principle or a certain quantitative proportion.

Instrumental ways through which the transfer of votes into parliamentary seats and powers are realized allow the best way reveal the concept and types of electoral systems.

These include:

a quantitative criterion that determines the results - either there is one winner who received a majority, or several, based on proportional representation;
method of voting and forms of nominating candidates;
method of filling out and type of electoral list;
type of electoral district - how many mandates are there in the district (one or many).

The choice in favor of any methods or methods, which together form the uniqueness of the electoral system of a particular country, occurs under the influence historical conditions, established cultural and political traditions, and sometimes based on specific tasks political development. Political science distinguishes two main types of electoral systems: majoritarian and proportional.

Generalized typology

The main factors that determine the types of electoral systems are the method of voting and the method of distribution of parliamentary mandates and government powers. It should be noted here that clean systems does not exist in the form of a majority or proportional - both in practice are specific forms or types. They can be represented as a continuous collection. Modern political world offers us diversity various options, based on the same diversity of democracies. The question of choosing the best system also remains open, since each has both advantages and disadvantages.

All the diverse combination of elements of electoral institutions that have developed in world practice, forming the democratic foundations of a particular society, reflect the main types of electoral systems: majoritarian and proportional.

Majoritarian and proportional principles

The name of the first system translated from French means “majority”. In this case, the winner who gets elected is the candidate for whom the majority of the electorate voted. The main goal pursued by the majoritarian type of electoral system is to determine the winner or a certain majority capable of implementing political decisions. In technical terms, this system is the simplest of all. It was this that was the first to be implemented during elections to representative institutions.

Experts consider its main drawback to be the discrepancy between the number of votes cast for a candidate or list and the number of seats received in parliament. It is also problematic that voters who voted for a party that lost do not receive representation in the elected body. Therefore, already in the second half of the 19th century, the proportional system became widespread.

Features of the proportional system

This electoral system is based on the principle that seats in elected bodies are distributed proportionally - in accordance with the number of votes received by a party or list of candidates. In other words, a party or list will receive the number of seats in parliament equal to the number of votes given for them. The proportional system solves the previous problem, since there are absolutely no losers. Consequently, those parties with fewer votes do not lose their right to distribute seats in parliament.

The types of electoral systems - proportional and majoritarian - are rightly considered the main ones, since it is their principles that form the foundation of any electoral system.

The mixed system is the result of the development of the electoral process

The following, mixed type of electoral system was called upon to neutralize the shortcomings and in some way strengthen the advantages of the first two. Both the majority and proportional principles can be used here. Political scientists distinguish these types of mixing: structural and linear. The application of the first is possible only in a bicameral parliament: here one chamber is elected on the basis of a majoritarian principle, and the second - on a proportional basis. The linear type involves the application of the same principles, but for part of the parliament, as a rule, according to the “50 to 50” principle.

Types of electoral systems. Their characteristics

A more detailed understanding of the typology of electoral systems will be made possible by studying the subtypes that have developed in the practice of various states.

In the majoritarian system, systems of absolute, or simple, and relative majorities have developed.

Varieties of majoritarian choice: absolute majority

IN in this case To obtain mandates, an absolute majority of votes will be required - 50% + 1. That is, a number that is at least one vote greater than half the number of voters in a particular district. As a rule, the basis is the number of voters or the number of votes recognized as valid.

Who benefits from such a system? First of all, large and well-known parties with a large and permanent electorate. For small parties it gives practically no chance.

The advantage of this subtype lies in the technical simplicity of determining the election results, as well as in the fact that the winner will be a representative of the absolute majority of citizens who chose him. The remaining part of the votes will not be represented in parliament - this is a serious drawback.

The political practice of a number of countries using a majoritarian electoral system has developed mechanisms that make it possible to neutralize its influence through the use of repeated voting and re-balloting.

The application of the first involves holding as many rounds as are necessary in order for a candidate to emerge who will receive an absolute majority of votes.

Reballoting allows you to determine the winner using a two-round vote. Here a candidate can be elected in the first round. However, this becomes possible only if the absolute majority of voters vote for him. If this does not happen, then a second round is held, in which only a simple majority is needed.

The undoubted advantage of this mechanism is that the winner will be identified in any case. It is used in presidential elections and characterizes the type of electoral system in the Russian Federation, as well as in countries such as France, Ukraine, and Belarus.

Relative majority, or first at the finish line

Here the main condition is to obtain a simple or relative majority, in other words, to have more votes than opponents. In fact, the majority taken here as a basis cannot be called such, since it is the largest of the represented minorities. To paraphrase the British, this subtype can be called “the first to reach the finish line.”

If we consider the relative majority from an instrumental perspective, then its main task is to transfer the votes of voters in a certain district to one of the seats in parliament.

Consideration in various ways and instrumental features allows us to gain a deeper understanding of what types of electoral systems exist. The table below will systematically present them, linking them with implementation practices in a particular state.

Proportional principle: lists and transfer of votes

Main technical feature The list system is that more than one mandate is allocated to one constituency, and generated lists of party candidates are used as the main method of nominating candidates. The essence of the system is that a party that participates in elections can receive as many seats in parliament as is expected based on the proportion calculated based on voting throughout the entire electoral territory.

The technique for distributing mandates looks like in the following way: the total number of votes cast for the party list is divided by the number of seats in parliament and the so-called electoral meter is obtained. It represents the number of votes required to obtain one mandate. The number of such meters is, in fact, the number of parliamentary seats received by the party.

Party representation also has its own varieties. Political scientists distinguish between complete and limited. In the first case, the country is a united district and a single electorate, in which all mandates are distributed at once. This technique is justified for countries with a small territory, but for large states it is somewhat unfair due to those voters who do not always have an idea for whom to vote.

Limited representation is intended to offset the shortcomings of full representation. It assumes that the electoral process and the distribution of seats take place in several districts (multi-member districts). However, in this case, sometimes there are large discrepancies between the number of votes that a party received in the country as a whole and the number of possible representatives.

In order to avoid the presence of extreme parties, fragmentation and disunity in parliament, proportionality is limited by a percentage threshold. This technique allows only those parties that have overcome this threshold to enter parliament.

The voting system is not as widespread in modern world like others. Its main goal is to minimize the number of voices unrepresented in parliament and to enable their more adequate representation.

The presented system is implemented in multi-member districts using preference voting. Here the voter has an additional opportunity to choose between representatives from the party to which he cast his vote.

The table below presents the types of electoral systems systematically, depending on the practice of their implementation in certain countries.

System type	Subsystem and its characteristics	Constituency type	Voting forms	Countries of application
Majoritarian	Relative majority	Single-member	For one candidate in one round	UK, USA
Majoritarian	Absolute majority in two rounds	Single-member	For one candidate in two rounds	France, Belarus
Proportional	List system of party representation	Multi-member: country - one district (full party representation)	For the list as a whole	Israel, Holland, Ukraine, Russia, Germany
		Limited representation. Multi-member constituency system	For lists with elements of preference	Belgium, Denmark, Sweden
	Voice transmission system	Multi-member	For individual candidates, preference voting	Ireland, Australia (Senate)
Mixed	Linear mixing	Single and multi-member		Germany, Russia (State Duma), Hungary
	Double voting	Single and multi-member	For an individual candidate and for lists	Germany
	Structural mixing	Single and multi-member	For an individual candidate and for lists	Russia, Germany, Italy

Type of electoral system in Russia

In Russia, the formation of its own electoral system took a long time and hard way. Its principles are laid down in the fundamental law of the state - the Constitution. Russian Federation, where it is indicated that the norms of the electoral system are within the current jurisdiction of the federation and its subjects.

The electoral process in the Russian Federation is regulated by a number of regulations that contain the main aspects legal regulation electoral process. The principles of the majoritarian system have found application in Russian political practice:

during the election of the president of the country;
when electing half of the deputies representative bodies state power;
during elections to municipal bodies.

The majoritarian system is used in the elections of the President of the Russian Federation. Here the method of re-balloting is used with the implementation of two-round voting.

Elections to the Russian State Duma from 1993 to 2007 were carried out on the basis of a mixed system. At the same time, half of the deputies of parliament were elected on the basis of the majority principle in single-mandate constituencies, and the second - in a single constituency on the basis of proportional principles.

Between 2007 and 2011. the entire composition of the State Duma was elected according to the proportional electoral system. The next elections will return Russia to the implementation of the previous form of elections.

It should be noted that for modern Russia characterized by a democratic electoral system. This peculiarity is emphasized by legal norms, according to which victory is possible only if more than a quarter of registered voters realize their will. Otherwise, the election is considered invalid.

“Politics” is one of the most common and polysemantic words in the Russian language, and in many other languages of the world. In everyday life, politics is often called any purposeful activity, be it the activity of the head of a state, a party or a company, or even the relationship of a wife to her husband, subordinate to a specific goal.

In the history of political thought, including among modern theorists, legal concepts of politics are quite widely represented. They consider politics and the state to be derived from law and, above all, from natural human rights, which underlie public law, laws and state activities.

Politics is the most important sphere of life of society, the state and every citizen.

Teleological definitions of politics, as can be seen from Parsons's characterization, are widely used within the framework of systemic analysis of society. From a systemic point of view, politics is a relatively independent system, a complex social organism, an integrity delimited from environment- other areas of society - and in continuous interaction with it.

Politics is the organizational and regulatory-control sphere of society, guiding the life, activities, relationships of people, social groups, classes, nations, peoples and countries.

6. Electoral systems: majoritarian, proportional and mixed.

The electoral procedure is the state’s measures to organize and conduct elections, “the electoral law in action.”

The election results are determined by those casting ballots based on two main systems: proportional and majoritarian.

The proportional system involves voting on party lists and the distribution of mandates between parties strictly proportional to the number of votes cast. In this case, the so-called “electoral meter” is determined - the smallest number of votes required to elect a single deputy. The proportional system is the most common electoral system in the modern world. In Latin American countries, for example, elections are held only according to a proportional system. It is used in Belgium, Sweden and many other countries. The proportional system has two varieties:

a) proportional electoral system at the national level (voters vote for political parties on a national scale; electoral districts are not allocated);

b) proportional electoral system based on multi-member districts (deputy mandates are distributed based on the influence of parties in electoral districts).

The majoritarian system is characterized by the fact that the candidate (or list of candidates) who receives the majority of votes required by law is considered the winner. Most are different. There are electoral systems that require an absolute majority (50% plus 1 vote or more). Such a system exists, for example, in Australia. The majority system means that the one who gets more votes than each of his rivals wins the election. It is called the “first to finish system”. Currently, such a system is used in the USA, Canada, Great Britain, and New Zealand. Sometimes both varieties of the majority system are practiced. For example, in France, when electing members of parliament, the absolute majority system is used in the first round of voting, and the relative majority system in the second round. In general, under a majoritarian system, voting is possible in one, two or even three rounds.

Proportional and majoritarian systems have their advantages and disadvantages.

One of the advantages of the majoritarian system is that it contains the possibility of forming an effective and stable government. It allows large, well-organized parties to easily win elections and create one-party governments.

The main disadvantages of the majoritarian system:

1) a significant part of the country’s voters (sometimes up to 50%) remains unrepresented in government;

3) two parties that received an equal or close to an equal number of votes nominate a different number of candidates to government bodies (a situation cannot be ruled out in which a party that receives more votes than its rival does not receive a single mandate at all).

Thus, the majoritarian system promotes the formation of a majority in government and tolerates the disproportion between the votes received and the mandates received.

To the advantages proportional system The point is that the government bodies formed through it present a real picture of the political life of society and the alignment of political forces. It provides a feedback system between the state and civil society organizations, ultimately promoting the development of political pluralism and multi-party system.

The main disadvantages of the proportional system:

1) difficulties arise in forming a government (reasons: lack of a dominant party; creation of multi-party coalitions, including parties with different goals and objectives, and, as a consequence, instability of governments);

2) the direct connection between deputies and voters is very weak, since voting is carried out not for specific candidates, but for parties;

3) independence of deputies from their parties (such lack of freedom of parliamentarians can negatively affect the process of discussing and adopting important documents).

Electoral systems have come a long way in their development. During this process (in the post-war period), the formation of a mixed electoral system began, i.e. a system that should incorporate the positive characteristics of both majoritarian and proportional systems. Within the framework of a mixed system, a certain part of the mandates is distributed on a majority basis. The other part is distributed proportionally. Experience in improving electoral systems indicates that this system is more democratic and effective in achieving political stability.

1.5.3. Electoral systems: majoritarian, proportional, mixed.

The electoral system is the procedure for organizing and conducting elections to representative institutions or an individual leading representative (for example, the president of a country), enshrined in legal standards, as well as the established practice of government and public organizations.

There are parliamentary, presidential, regional (in federal subjects), municipal, judges, and some officials (coroners in the USA). In modern democratic states, elections, as a rule, are universal, equal, direct and secret ballot. Only in the United States are elections indirect (multi-degree), since voters vote for electors - representatives of a political party, and the latter directly choose the president. A specific form of electoral activity is a referendum - a special type of popular vote, the object of which is an important state question or bill (constitution). In rare cases, the object of a referendum becomes a specific person - a candidate for the presidency (Arab Republic of Egypt).

There are two main types of electoral systems: majoritarian (alternative) and proportional (representative).

Under a majoritarian system, to be elected, a candidate or party must receive a majority of the votes of the voters in the district or the entire country. Parties that collect a minority of votes do not receive any mandates. The absolute majority system is more often used in presidential elections, where the winner must receive more than half the votes (a minimum of 50% plus one vote). If no candidate receives more than half the votes, a second round of elections is held, in which only the two candidates who received the most votes are presented (sometimes all candidates who received more than the minimum number of votes in the first round are allowed into the second round). Under the relative majority system (USA, UK, Canada, France, Japan, etc.), to win it is enough to be at least a little ahead of other contenders.

The advantage of the majoritarian system is the relative ease of forming a government and its stability, since parliamentary mandates are distributed mainly among the large winning parties. Small batches are eliminated. As a rule, stable ties are formed between voters and deputies counting on their re-election in specific districts. At the same time, the majoritarian electoral system significantly distorts the picture of preferences and the will of voters. A party with less voter support sometimes wins over a party with a majority of votes nationwide by winning constituencies with fewer voters. Much depends on the drawing of electoral districts. By limiting access to the parliamentary corps of small parties, the majoritarian system can weaken the legitimacy of the government.

The proportional electoral system consists of distributing mandates in proportion to the votes received by parties or electoral coalitions, which allows the interests of all groups of society to be represented. Heterogeneous parties are often forced to enter into temporary coalitions, which fall apart when contradictions escalate and create government crises. The policies of the government, formed on the basis of an inter-party coalition, are characterized by uncertainty and inconsistency. For greater stability of party coalitions, a number of electoral systems use barriers that establish the minimum number of votes required to obtain parliamentary mandates. It usually accounts for three to five percent of all votes cast. In Russia since 2007 - 7 percent. Parties that do not overcome the barrier lose the right to be represented in parliament. The voter votes for the party list. There are three main types of voting lists: hard lists, when they vote for the party as a whole and candidates receive mandates in the order in which they are presented on the party lists; semi-rigid - in this case, the candidate who heads the party list necessarily receives a mandate, and the distribution of the remaining mandates received by the party is carried out depending on the votes (preferences) received by the candidate; free - the distribution of all deputy seats occurs in accordance with the preferences of voters.

There are various modifications of both majoritarian and especially proportional systems. Many countries, trying to make the most of the advantages of each of them and mitigate their disadvantages, use mixed systems that combine elements of majoritarian and proportional electoral systems. Thus, in Germany, one half of the Bundestag deputies are elected according to a majority system of relative majority, the other half - according to a proportional system. A similar electoral system was used in Russia in the elections in State Duma in 1993, 1995, 1999, 2003 In recent decades, some organizations (UN, green parties, etc.) have used a consensus election system. It has a positive orientation, i.e. is focused not on criticizing the enemy, but on finding the most acceptable candidate or electoral platform for everyone. In practice, this is expressed in the fact that the voter votes not for one, but for all (necessarily more than two) candidates and ranks their list in order of his own preferences. So, for example, if 5 candidates are vying for the presidency, then the voter determines the place of each of them. 1st place is given 5 points, 2nd - 4, 3rd - 3, 4th - 2, 5th - 1 point. After voting, the points received are summed up and the winner is determined based on their number.

By orienting political subjects to a certain order of struggle for power, various electoral systems directly determine the type of party systems and election campaigns. Laws can also influence the nature of party systems, imposing, for example, restrictions on the activities of a few parties, preventing opposition parties of a certain orientation from being allowed to participate in elections, or allowing violent actions against illegal party associations. Where majoritarian electoral systems operate (determining one winner based on the majority of votes received), two-party systems or systems with one dominant party are usually formed. Proportional electoral systems, on the contrary, give chances for representation in government more political forces, initiate the creation of multi-party systems and party coalitions, and facilitate the emergence of new parties.

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Majoritarian electoral system characterized by the fact that the candidate (or list of candidates) who receives the majority of votes required by law is considered elected. The majoritarian system can be of various types, depending on what kind of majority the law requires for the election of deputies - relative, absolute or qualified.

IN different countries act different kinds majoritarian system. Thus, in the USA, Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand there is a relative majority system, and in Australia there is an absolute majority system. Sometimes both varieties are used simultaneously. For example, in France, when electing members of parliament, the absolute majority system is used in the first round of voting, and the relative majority system in the second round. The qualified majority system is less common because it is less effective than the other two.

In a majoritarian system, as a rule, there are direct connections between the candidate and voters. Representatives of the stronger political current in the country win elections, which contributes to the ousting of representatives of small and medium-sized parties from parliament and other government bodies. The majoritarian system contributes to the emergence and strengthening of two- or three-party systems in countries where it is used. The authorities created on this basis are sustainable, and an effectively functioning and stable government is formed.

However, the majority system also has significant disadvantages. They are due to the fact that a significant number of votes (often about half) are not taken into account when distributing mandates and remain “thrown out.” In addition, the picture of the real balance of political forces in the country is distorted: the party that received smallest number votes, can receive a majority of parliamentary seats. The potential injustice inherent in this electoral system is even more clearly manifested in combination with special methods of dividing electoral districts, called “electoral geometry” and “electoral geography”.

The essence of “electoral geometry” is that electoral districts are formed in such a way that, while maintaining formal equality, the advantage of supporters of one of the parties is ensured in advance, supporters of other parties are dispersed in small numbers across different districts, and their maximum number is concentrated in 1– 2 districts. That is, the party that is forming electoral districts tries to do it in such a way as to “drive” the maximum number of voters voting for the rival party into one or two districts. She does this so that, having “lost” them, she can secure victory in other districts. Formally, the equality of districts is not violated, but in fact the election results are predetermined in advance.

Legislation as a series foreign countries(USA, France, UK, Japan), and Russia, proceeds from the fact that it is practically impossible to form absolutely equal electoral districts, and therefore sets a maximum percentage (usually 25 or 33%) of the deviation of districts in terms of the number of voters from the average district. This is the basis of "electoral geography". Its purpose is to make the voice of the more conservative rural voter more significant than the voice of the urban voter, creating rural areas more constituencies with fewer voters than cities. As a result, with an equal number of voters living in urban and rural areas, 2–3 times more constituencies can be formed in the latter. Thus, the disadvantages of the majoritarian electoral system are further enhanced.

Using proportional electoral system in government bodies a more realistic picture of the political life of society and the balance of political forces is presented. This is facilitated by the fact that mandates in electoral districts are distributed between parties in accordance with the number of votes collected by each of them. Each party participating in the elections receives a number of parliamentary seats proportional to the number of votes received. The proportional system ensures representation even for relatively small parties and takes into account the votes of voters to the maximum extent possible. This is precisely the advantage of a proportional electoral system compared to a majoritarian one. Today it is followed by a significant number of countries, such as Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Austria, Israel, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, etc.

The proportional system of each country has its own specifics, which depends on its historical experience, established political system and other circumstances. Although all proportional systems have the goal of achieving proportional representation, this goal is achieved to varying degrees. In accordance with this criterion, three types are distinguished:

systems that fully implement the principle of proportionality;

systems with insufficient proportionality;

systems that, although they achieve proportionality between votes cast and mandates received, nevertheless provide for various barriers to the penetration of certain political forces into parliament. Candidates from a political party that does not receive the percentage of votes established by law throughout the country do not enter parliament. This “electoral meter” in Egypt, for example, is 8%, in Turkey – 10%, in Sweden – 4% in the country and 12% in the electoral district, in Germany and Russia – 5%. In Israel, this barrier is one of the lowest - 1%.

Since the proportional electoral system operates in multi-member districts, parties do not nominate individual candidates, but entire lists that include as many candidates as there are mandates allocated to the district. In this regard, the issue of distribution of mandates within the lists is important. Various options are possible here.

Under the system of “hard” lists, candidates are not placed on them arbitrarily, but depending on their “weight”, their position in the party. When voting for the list as a whole, voters do not express their attitude towards individual deputies. Mandates won by the list are given to candidates in accordance with the order in which they appear on the list.

Under the “flexible” list system, the voter, while voting for the list as a whole, simultaneously indicates the candidate he prefers. Accordingly, the candidate with the largest number of preference marks receives the mandate.

With a system of preferential voting, the voter does not just vote for a list, but gives preferences to the candidates on the ballot (1, 2, 3, etc.), thereby indicating in what order the election of candidates is desirable for him. This system is used, for example, in Italy in elections to the Chamber of Deputies.

Undoubtedly, in a multi-party system, the proportional system is more democratic than the majoritarian system: it does not give large number uncounted votes and more adequately reflects the real balance of political forces in the country at the time of elections.

However, the proportional system also has its disadvantages.

Firstly, difficulties arise in forming a government, since multi-party coalitions include parties with different goals and objectives. It is quite difficult for them to develop a single, clear and solid program. Governments created on this basis are unstable. For example, Italy, which uses a proportional electoral system, has had 52 governments since 1945.

Secondly, the proportional system leads to the fact that representation in government bodies is given to political forces that do not enjoy support throughout the country.

Thirdly, under a proportional system, due to the fact that voting is carried out not for specific candidates, but for parties, the direct connection between deputies and voters is weak.

Fourthly, since under this system voting is for political parties, deputies are dependent on their party leadership, which can negatively affect the discussion and adoption of important documents.

Elections, as well as the quality of the electoral process for government bodies, are considered throughout the world to be a test of a country’s level of democracy in society and government. The election process does not occur in the same way. The most popular are majoritarian and proportional electoral systems.

History of the election process

The need to elect elders in a tribe or city arose already in ancient times. It is clear that the majority and proportional systems had not yet been invented by people at that time. The selection process used to take place on general meetings of people. A candidate was brought up for general discussion and voted for by a show of hands. A special accountant counted the votes. Once the votes for each candidate were separately counted, the candidates' results were compared and the winner was declared.

In some tribes, such as the Indians, voting took place differently. Small stones were distributed to members of the tribe. If a person votes for a certain person, then he places a pebble in a certain place. Then the “counting of votes” also occurs.

The main electoral systems of our time

In the process of development of legal thought and experience of holding the first elections, three main electoral types arose: majoritarian, proportional, and proportional-majority electoral systems. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages, so no one can definitely say which is better and which is worse.

Criteria for characteristics of electoral systems

The system by which elections of deputies to councils take place different levels, is not a “holy dogma”, but only one way to select the most worthy people to protect the interests of society in a certain territory. During the first electoral processes, criteria were developed by which electoral systems differ from each other. So:

V different systems possibility is provided different quantities winners;
constituencies are formed differently;
The process of forming a list of parliamentary candidates is different.

Majoritarian and proportional electoral systems are designed on such a principle that they can be used in parallel. In many countries, this is exactly how elections are held.

General characteristics of the majoritarian electoral system

The majoritarian election system implies the ability to vote for candidates - individuals. This type of electoral system can be used in parliamentary, local and presidential elections. Depending on how many votes the winner must receive, there are the following types of system:

qualified majority system;
majoritarian system of relative majority;
absolute majority system.

We will consider the features of each type of majority system in the article.

What is a relative majority?

So, parliamentary elections are being held using a majoritarian system. The law on the election of deputies determines that the candidate who receives a larger percentage of votes than other candidates wins. Elections of city mayors are held in a similar way in Ukraine. The number of candidates who can take part in the elections is not limited. Let’s say 21 candidates are taking part in the elections for the mayor of Kyiv. Under such a system, a candidate who receives 10% of the vote can even win. The most important thing is that other candidates receive fewer votes than the winner.

The majoritarian election system (subtype - relative system) has both advantages and disadvantages. Among the advantages are the following:

no need to hold a second round of elections;
budget savings;
the winner is not required to score a large number of votes.

The majoritarian relative system has disadvantages:

in some cases, the election results do not reflect the will of the majority of the people, because the winner may have many more opponents than supporters;
election results are easy to challenge in court.

Let us note that in the countries of Britain, with any number of voters voting, the elections are recognized as valid. In most others European countries an election may be declared invalid if the number of voters who voted is less than a certain threshold (for example, 25%, 30%).

Absolute majority system

This system is used today in most countries for presidential elections. Its essence is very simple, because the winner must receive 50% plus one vote to officially win the election race. An absolute majoritarian system allows for a second round of voting because the first-place candidate rarely gets the required number of votes in the first round. An exception to the rule was the recent presidential elections in Russia and Ukraine. Let us remind you that Vladimir Putin won more than 80% of the Russian vote in the first round of elections. In the presidential elections in Ukraine, which took place on May 25, 2014, Petro Poroshenko received 54% of the votes. The absolute majority system is very popular in the world today.

When the first round fails to identify a winner, a re-vote is scheduled. The second round is usually held 2-3 weeks after the first. Candidates who took first and second place according to the results of the first vote take part in the voting. The second round usually ends with one candidate gaining more than 50% of the votes.

Advantages of an absolute majority system:

the voting result reflects the will of the majority of voters;
people who enjoy great authority in society come to power.

The only drawback of such a system is that holding a second round doubles the cost of elections and, accordingly, expenses state budget countries.

Qualified majority system: how does it differ from the absolute system?

Some countries use a qualified majority system. What is its essence? The election law establishes a certain percentage of votes upon which a candidate is considered elected. Such a system in last years used in Italy, Costa Rica, Azerbaijan. A special feature of the system is that the qualified barrier differs in different countries. In order to become the head of state of Costa Rica, you need to get 40% of the votes in the first round. In Italy, senatorial candidates had to win 65% of the vote by 1993. Azerbaijani laws set the barrier at 2/3 of the number of voters who voted.

This is a very difficult system to understand. Lawyers note that the advantage of such a system is the absolute trust of voters in the winner. There are a lot of disadvantages. For example, voting may not even be limited to the second round, so the budget must spend a lot of money. In times of financial crises, huge expenditures on elections are unacceptable even in European democracies.

Intransitive voice system

If we understand legal science in detail, we will find two types of majoritarian systems that are used extremely rarely. These are the permanent vote system and the cumulative vote system. Let's take a look at the features of these systems.

When using a non-rolling vote system, multi-member constituencies are created, which is typical of the proportional system, which will be discussed later. Candidates for deputies are nominated by parties in the form of open party lists. Voters vote for a specific candidate from one list. You cannot vote for people who are included in other party lists. In fact, we see an element of combining the relative majoritarian system with the party list voting system.

What is a cumulative vote?

The cumulative vote system is the ability of a voter to cast multiple votes. The voter has the following options to choose from:

votes are cast for representatives of one party list (you can vote for one candidate for deputy);
The voter distributes several votes without taking into account the party principle, that is, he votes based on the personal qualities of the candidates.

Proportional voting system

Majoritarian and proportional systems differ significantly from each other. If in a majoritarian system voting goes for people, that is, individuals, then in a proportional system people vote for party lists.

How are party lists formed? A party wishing to take part in the elections of deputies holds a general congress or a congress of the organization lower level(depending on what level of council elections are being held). At the congress, a list of deputies is formed and assigned serial numbers. For approval, the party organization submits the list to the district or central election commission. After agreeing on the list, the commission assigns a number on the ballot to the party by drawing lots.

What is the difference between open and closed lists?

There are two types of voting using the proportional system: open and closed lists. We will analyze each type separately. So, a proportional system with closed lists provides the opportunity for a voter to vote for the list of the party that he supports on ideological principles. At the same time, the list may contain candidates whom the voter does not want to see on the council. The voter cannot influence the decrease or increase in the serial number of candidates on the party list. Often, when voting on closed lists, a person votes in support of party leaders.

Open lists are a more progressive type of proportional system. Used in most countries European Union. Parties also draw up lists and approve them, but, unlike the previous option, voters have the opportunity to influence the position of candidates on the list. The fact is that when voting, the voter gets the opportunity not only to vote for a party, but also for a specific person from the list. The candidate who receives more support from citizens will rise as high as possible in the list of his party.

How are seats in parliament distributed after elections under the proportional system? Let's say there are 100 seats in parliament. The entry barrier for parties is 3% of the vote. The winner received 21% of the votes, 2nd place - 16% of the votes, then the parties received 8%, 6% and 4%. 100 mandates are proportionally divided between representatives of these parties.

It is clear that party list elections are a more democratic method of voting. People have a direct opportunity to influence the outcome of elections. An important difference between a proportional system and a majoritarian system is that people vote for an ideology, a system of views on the development of the state. An important disadvantage of the proportional system is considered to be that deputies elected according to party lists are not tied to a specific electoral district. They don't keep in touch with ordinary people those living locally do not know about their problems.

Mixed majoritarian-proportional election system

We talked about two completely opposite electoral systems. But it turns out that they can be used in parallel. The proportional-majority system is used in many states in the post-Soviet space.

How does the system work? Let us illustrate with the example of elections to the Supreme Council of Ukraine. According to the Constitution of Ukraine, 450 people are elected to parliament people's deputies. Half passes under the majoritarian system, and half through the proportional system.

In countries with a heterogeneous population or a large gap between rich and poor, this is the most optimal electoral system. Firstly, parties are represented in parliament, there is an ideological basis for further development states. Secondly, majoritarians maintain a connection with the region that elected them to the Supreme Council. In their activities, deputies will protect the interests of the region that delegated them to the legislative body.

The mixed system is used today in countries such as Ukraine, Russia, Germany, Great Britain, some countries in Asia, Africa and America.

Conclusion

During elections, world practice knows the use of three main systems: majoritarian and proportional electoral systems, as well as mixed system. Each of the systems has its pros and cons, and the amount of negative and positive is approximately the same. There is no perfect election process.