Electoral Systems Index

The Electoral Systems topic area deals with issues relating to the type of representation and the nature of the democracy that electoral systems provide. The choice of electoral system is fundamental to how politics is structured. Once chosen, the electoral system tends to remain fairly constant; thus, the choice is very important. For more general information on this topic area, please select Overview.

Those interested in electoral system design, however, may want to jump to Design Principles. For examples of how electoral systems were chosen (and changed), in fact, one should examine The Process of Choice. Finally, for a discussion on the component parts of electoral systems, including frequency of elections, parliamentary size, methods of voting and translation of votes into seats, one should review the materials found in Design Components.

For the purposes of this project, electoral systems are categorised into three broad families: majority-plurality systems, semi-proportional systems and proportional representation systems. Within these families are 10 sub-families. To read about a particular type of electoral system, select one of the three links below.

Majority-Plurality Systems

Semi-Proportional Systems

PR Systems

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