Proportional electoral system: the basics of political science

Against the backdrop of ongoing elections, most people have a question about what is a proportional electoral system? This problem has long ceased to be purely encyclopedic in nature, having moved to a more practical plane. Therefore, it makes sense to give a description of the designated electoral process and to reveal its merits, as well as shortcomings.

Proportional electoral system: distinctive characteristics

If you just formulate the essence of this type of election, it can look like this: a voter votes for the image of a particular political force. And this is what distinguishes this species from the majority model. But such a definition requires decoding. So, the main signs of proportionality are:

1. Absence of unaccounted votes.
2. Direct ratio between the percentage of votes cast in elections and the percentage of seats in the elected body.

These two factors determine the electoral process itself. In fact, a certain part of the country or the whole state is a multi-member district, in which everyone is free to choose the political force that he likes. At the same time, parties, movements, associations and blocs are elected, but only individuals represented in registered lists are represented in the body. It should be noted that in the developed democracies, a "linked list" and "independent lists" can be exhibited in a proportional election system. In the first case, the unifying political forces go to the elections as a united front, without specifying who will represent them in the body. In the second, a proportional electoral system allows the nomination of a single individual (this is the case in Belgium or Switzerland).

In general, the electoral process for this system looks like this: after coming to the polling station, the voter gives his only vote for a particular party. After counting the votes, the political force receives such a number of seats in the body, which corresponds to the percentage obtained in the elections. Further, the number of mandates is distributed according to the list registered in advance, between members of the political force. Rotation of places occurs only in those cases when an individual is unable to exercise powers due to physical or legislative reasons.

From all this we can conclude that a proportional electoral system is a special type of election process, in which a representative of the electorate votes not for specific individuals, but for political forces. It is also worth remembering that the territory in which elections are held is one large multi-member district.

Proportional electoral system: advantages and disadvantages

Like any type of electoral process, this system has both advantages and disadvantages. Among the advantages is the fact that a proportional electoral system helps to take into account the preferences of the entire electorate, who decided to announce his will. In this case, it is favorably different from the majority, taking into account only the will of the majority.

But to the essential shortcoming of this system is that the voter is actually given the right to vote for the image of a particular political force, and not for a specific person. It is worth noting that in this case, the image can be built on the charisma of the leader (as happened, for example, in Germany in 1933). At the same time, other individuals who came to power may be completely unfamiliar to the electorate. Thus, a proportional electoral system contributes to the development of the "personality cult" and, as a consequence, to a possible transition from a democratic system to an autocracy. However, such a situation is not so often due to the implementation of deterrence norms.

Consequently, a proportional electoral system is a convenient mechanism for taking into account the opinion of the entire society living in a particular part of the country or in the entire state.