Advantage Of The Majority Vote System example essay topic

The democratic quality of a political system is brought about through elections. Every modern state needs a representative body of the people. Therefore are elections for every democratic political system of fundamental significance. There are almost as many electoral systems as countries in which elections are hold - but every system can be divided into one of the two main electoral systems. The purpose of this essay is to describe these main electoral systems, the majority vote system and the system of proportional representation briefly and to demonstrate that both have their advantages and disadvantages.

But we want to point out that the system of proportional representation may be considered as the more democratic one. In the majority vote system (or first past the post system) the candidate who can secure a majority of votes gets the seat in the parliament. The votes for the inferior candidate are not taken into account. The country is divided into constituencies. Every constituency sends only one candidate - the one with the majority of votes - into the parliament. One advantage of the first-past-the-post system is that this system avoids a splintering of the parties; those parties which cannot secure a majority are ruled out.

This electoral system also supports a stable government because it leads to a two-party-system. Another advantage of the majority vote system is that it fosters a change of government. Even small changes of votes can cause big changes in the seats in the parliament. Due to the division into constituencies exists a close connection between the voter and the candidate. The voter votes more for the person than for the party.

Further more, the voter decides with his vote directly about government and opposition. So there is no danger that the parties have to negotiate endlessly about a possible coalition. As a disadvantage of this system can be considered that small and new parties have hardly a chance to get into the parliament. Also the lack of democracy is a disadvantage: A lot of votes from the voters (namely the ones for the inferior candidate) are not taken into account. In the system of proportional representation is the share of the votes a party or list gets decisive. The voter votes for a party.

The votes get with the help of a mathematical method (e.g. after d'Hondt or system Hare) translated into seats. A big advantage of the system of proportional representation is the justice and equality. Every vote is equal; not only in counting but also in success. Another purpose of the system of proportional representation is that there should be formed an exactly reflection of the electorate with the aim that also minorities get a chance to articulate themselves. This electoral system also enables better possibilities for new parties to get into the government. Another advantage of the system of proportional representation is that needed experts can get easier into the parliament because of the lists.

But these systems support the splintering of the parties. So in most countries exists a barrier; in Germany for example the barrier is at 5%. That means that the parties which get less than 5% of all the votes get no seats in the parliament. One could argue that this system leads to unstable governments, as in Italy. But this argument is not tenable.

In Italy for example the instability in governments is not due to the vote system but to the numerous political scandals and corruption affairs. And when you look at Germany you can see that the system of proportional representation can create really a stable and able to act government. In conclusion, we can say that both electoral systems may have their advantages and disadvantages. As you have surly noticed, the advantages of one system can be interpreted as a disadvantage for the other. But if you consider that the basis values of a democracy are equality and justice it is obvious that the system of proportional representation is the more democratic one. Every vote is equal in counting and in success, while in the first-past-the-post system many votes get lost - they are not taken into account.