Types of electoral systems and their characteristics. Electoral system: definition, types

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 various types 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 receives the smallest number of votes may receive the 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 in them, the advantage of supporters of one of the parties is ensured in advance, while supporters of other parties are dispersed in small quantities in 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.

When 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. Possible here various options.

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 provide a large number of uncounted votes and more adequately reflects the real balance of political forces in the country at the time of elections.

However, proportional system It also has its drawbacks.

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 bodies state power receive 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.

1 Essence and types electoral systems

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

The types of electoral systems are determined by the principles of forming a representative body of power and the corresponding procedure for distributing mandates based on voting results, also provided for in election legislation. Since in various countries the principles for the formation of elected bodies of power and the procedure for distributing mandates are different, then in reality there are as many modifications of electoral systems as there are states that use elections to form government bodies. However centuries-old history In the development of representative democracy, two basic types of electoral systems have been developed - majoritarian and proportional, the elements of which are one way or another manifested in various models of electoral systems in different countries.

1. Majoritarian electoral system

The majoritarian electoral system is based on a system of personal representation in power. A specific person is always nominated as a candidate for a particular elective position in a majoritarian system.

The mechanism for nominating candidates may be different: in some countries self-nomination is allowed along with the nomination of candidates from political parties or public associations, in other countries candidates can only be nominated by political parties. But in any case, in a majoritarian constituency, candidates run on a personal basis. Accordingly, the voter in this case votes for an individually determined candidate, who is an independent subject of the electoral process - a citizen exercising his passive electoral right. Another thing is that this particular candidate may be supported by any political party. However, formally, a citizen is elected not from a party, but “on his own.”

As a rule, in most cases, elections under a majoritarian system are carried out in single-mandate electoral districts. The number of electoral districts in this case corresponds to the number of mandates. The winner in each district is the candidate who receives the legally required majority of votes from the district's voters. The majority in different countries can be different: absolute, in which a candidate must receive more than 50% of the votes to receive a mandate; relative, in which the winner is the candidate who received more votes than all other candidates (provided that fewer votes were cast against all candidates than for the winning candidate); qualified, in which a candidate, in order to win the election, must receive more than 2/3, 75% or 3/4 of the votes. The majority of votes can also be calculated in different ways - either from the total number of voters in the district, or, most often, from the number of voters who came to the elections and voted. The absolute majority system involves voting in two rounds if in the first round none of the candidates achieves the required majority. The candidates who received a relative majority of votes in the first round participate in the second round. This system of costs is from a financial point of view, but is used in presidential elections in most countries of the world, including in Russia.

Thus, the majoritarian electoral system is a system for the formation of elected authorities on the basis of personal (individual) representation, in which the candidate who receives the majority of votes required by law is considered elected.

2. Proportional electoral system

The proportional electoral system is based on the principle of party representation. Under such a system, parties put forward ranked lists of candidates for which voters are invited to vote.

The voter actually votes for a political party (pre-election bloc or coalition of parties, if their creation is permitted by law), which, in his opinion, most adequately and consistently expresses and protects his interests in the political system. Mandates are distributed between parties in proportion to the number of votes cast for them in percentage terms.

Seats in the representative body of government that a political party (electoral bloc) has received are occupied by candidates from the party list in accordance with the priority established by the party. For example, a party that received 20% of the votes in parliamentary elections in a single national 450-seat electoral district should receive 90 deputy mandates.

They will be received by the first 90 candidates from the corresponding party list. Thus, a proportional electoral system is a system for forming elected bodies of power on the basis of party representation, in which deputy seats (mandates) in a representative body of power are distributed in accordance with the number of votes received by parties in percentage terms. This system ensures adequate representation political interests in elected authorities.

In a proportional electoral system, unlike a majoritarian one, the loss of votes is minimal and is most often associated with the so-called “electoral barrier” - minimum quantity votes that a party must receive in elections in order to gain the right to participate in the distribution of mandates. The electoral barrier is established in order to limit access to representative bodies of power for small, often marginal, uninfluential parties. The votes that do not bring mandates to such parties are distributed (also proportionally) among the winning parties. Like the majoritarian system, the proportional electoral system has its own variations. There are two types of proportional systems:

A proportional system with a single national multi-member electoral district, the number of mandates in which corresponds to the number of seats in the elected body of government: only national parties nominate their lists of candidates, voters vote for these lists throughout the country;

Proportional electoral system with multi-member districts. political parties form lists of candidates in electoral districts; accordingly, deputy mandates “up for grabs” in the district are distributed based on the influence of the party in this district.

3. Mixed electoral system

Attempts to make maximum use of the advantages of basic electoral systems and neutralize their shortcomings lead to the emergence of mixed electoral systems. The essence of the mixed electoral system is that part of the deputies to the same representative body of power is elected through a majoritarian system, and the other part through a proportional system. It is planned to create majoritarian electoral districts (most often single-member, less often multi-member) and electoral districts (with a proportional system with multi-member districts) or a single national multi-member electoral district for voting on party lists of candidates. Accordingly, the voter receives the right to simultaneously vote for a candidate (candidates) running in a majoritarian district on a personal basis and for a political party (list of candidates from a political party). In reality, when carrying out the voting procedure, a voter receives at least two ballots: one to vote for a specific candidate in a majoritarian district, the other to vote for a party.

Consequently, a mixed electoral system is a system for the formation of representative bodies of power, in which some of the deputies are elected on a personal basis in majoritarian constituencies, and the other part is elected on a party basis according to the proportional representation principle.

Mixed electoral systems are usually distinguished by the nature of the relationship between the elements of the majoritarian and proportional systems used in them. On this basis, two types of mixed systems are distinguished:

A mixed unrelated election system, in which the distribution of mandates under a majoritarian system does not depend in any way on the results of elections under a proportional system (the examples given above are just examples of a mixed unrelated electoral system);

A mixed coupled electoral system, in which the distribution of seats under a majoritarian system depends on the results of elections under a proportional system. In this case, candidates in majoritarian districts are nominated by political parties participating in elections according to the proportional system. Mandates received by parties in majoritarian districts are distributed depending on the election results using a proportional system.

2 Election campaign

An election campaign is a system of campaigning activities carried out by candidates for elected positions and their parties in the electoral struggle, after official approval as such, in order to ensure maximum voter support in the upcoming elections.

An important part of any political system in democratic states is the regular holding of elections to representative bodies of government at various levels, as well as supreme bodies, as well as the highest officials country and local executive authorities. Along with the strengthening and development of democratic traditions, the forms and methods of influencing public opinion, on voters, as well as lobbying and social activities of various kinds.

On the one hand, they provide an opportunity for people with political ambitions and organizational abilities to be elected to government bodies, and on the other hand, they involve the general public in political life and allow ordinary citizens to influence political decisions.

Electoral system in a broad sense is called a system public relations related to the formation of elected authorities.

The electoral system includes two main elements:

• theoretical (suffrage);
• practical (electoral process).

Suffrage- this is the right of citizens to directly participate in the formation of elected institutions of government, i.e. elect and be elected. Electoral law also refers to legal norms regulating the procedure for granting citizens the right to participate in elections and the method of forming government bodies. Fundamentals of modern Russian voting rights enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

Electoral process is a set of activities for the preparation and conduct of elections. It includes, on the one hand, the election campaigns of candidates, and on the other, the work of election commissions to form an elected government body.

The following components are distinguished in the electoral process:

• calling elections;
• organization of electoral districts, districts, precincts;
• formation of election commissions;
• voter registration;
• nomination and registration of candidates;
• preparation of ballots and absentee ballots;
• pre-election struggle; o voting;
• counting votes and determining voting results.

Principles of democratic elections

To ensure the fairness and effectiveness of the electoral system, the election procedure must be democratic.

Democratic principles of organization and conduct of elections are as follows:

• universality - all adult citizens have the right to participate in elections, regardless of their gender, race, nationality, religion, property status, etc.;
• equality of citizen votes: each voter has one vote;
• direct and secret voting;
• availability of alternative candidates, competitiveness of elections;
• transparency of elections;
• truthful voter information;
• absence of administrative, economic and political pressure;
• equality of opportunity for political parties and candidates;
• voluntariness of participation in elections;
• legal response to any cases of violation of election legislation;
• frequency and regularity of elections.

Features of the electoral system of the Russian Federation

IN Russian Federation The existing electoral system regulates the procedure for holding elections of the head of state, deputies of the State Duma and regional authorities.

Candidate for the post President of the Russian Federation may be a Russian citizen of at least 35 years of age who has lived in Russia for at least 10 years. A candidate cannot be a person who has foreign citizenship or a residence permit, an unexpunged and unexpunged criminal record. The same person cannot hold the position of President of the Russian Federation for more than two consecutive terms. The President is elected for six years on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot. Presidential elections are held on a majoritarian basis. The President is considered elected if in the first round of voting a majority of voters who took part in the voting voted for one of the candidates. If this does not happen, a second round is scheduled in which the two candidates who received the most votes in the first round participate, and the one who received more votes than the other registered candidate wins.

A State Duma deputy can A citizen of the Russian Federation who has reached the age of 21 and has the right to participate in elections was elected. IN State Duma 450 deputies are elected from party lists on a proportional basis. In order to overcome the electoral threshold and receive mandates, a party must gain a certain percentage of the votes. The term of office of the State Duma is five years.

Citizens of Russia also participate in elections to government bodies and elective positions in subjects of the Russian Federation. According to the Constitution of the Russian Federation. the system of regional government bodies is established by the subjects of the Federation independently in accordance with the fundamentals of the constitutional system and current legislation. Established by law special days for voting in elections to government bodies of the constituent entities of the Federation and local governments - the second Sunday of March and the second Sunday of October.

Types of electoral systems

The electoral system in the narrow sense refers to the procedure for determining the voting results, which depends primarily on the principle counting votes.

On this basis, there are three main types of electoral systems:

• majoritarian;
• proportional;
• mixed.

Majoritarian electoral system

In conditions majoritarian system (from the French majorite - majority) the candidate who receives the majority of votes wins. A majority can be absolute (if a candidate received more than half the votes) or relative (if one candidate received more votes than the other). The disadvantage of a majoritarian system is that it can reduce the chances of small parties gaining representation in government.

The majoritarian system means that in order to be elected, a candidate or party must receive a majority of votes from voters in a district or the entire country, while those who collect a minority of votes do not receive mandates. Majoritarian electoral systems are divided into absolute majority systems, which are more often used in presidential elections and in which the winner must receive more than half the votes (minimum - 50% of the votes plus one vote), and relative majority systems (Great Britain, Canada, USA, France, Japan and etc.), when to win it is necessary to get ahead of other contenders. When applying the absolute majority principle, if no candidate receives more than half of the votes, a second round of elections is held, in which the two candidates who received the largest number of votes are presented (sometimes all candidates who received more than the established minimum votes in the first round are allowed into the second round ).

Proportional electoral system

Proportional The electoral system involves voting by voters according to party lists. After the elections, each party receives a number of mandates proportional to the percentage of votes received (for example, a party that receives 25% of the votes receives 1/4 of the seats). In parliamentary elections it is usually established interest barrier(electoral threshold) that a party must overcome in order to get its candidates into parliament; As a result, small parties that do not have broad social support do not receive mandates. Votes for parties that do not overcome the threshold are distributed among the winning parties in the elections. A proportional system is only possible in multi-mandate electoral districts, i.e. those where several deputies are elected and the voter votes for each of them personally.

The essence of the proportional system is the distribution of mandates in proportion to the number of votes received by electoral coalitions. The main advantage of this system is the representation of parties in elected bodies in accordance with their real popularity among voters, which makes it possible to more fully express the interests of all groups, to intensify the participation of citizens in elections and in general. In order to overcome excessive party fragmentation of the parliament and limit the possibility of representatives of radical or even extremist forces entering it, many countries use barriers or thresholds that establish the minimum number of votes required to obtain parliamentary mandates. It usually ranges from 2 (Denmark) to 5% (Germany) of all votes cast. Parties that do not collect the required minimum votes do not receive a single mandate.

Comparative analysis of proportional and electoral systems

Majoritarian an electoral system in which the candidate with the most votes wins favors the formation of bipartisanship or a “bloc” party system, while proportional, in which parties with the support of only 2-3% of voters can get their candidates into parliament, perpetuates the fragmentation of political forces and the preservation of many small parties, including extremist ones.

Bipartisanism assumes the presence of two large political parties, approximately equal in influence, which alternately replace each other in power by winning a majority of seats in parliament, elected by direct universal suffrage.

Mixed electoral system

Currently, many countries 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 the majority system of relative majority, the second - according to the proportional system. A similar system was used in Russia in the elections to the State Duma in 1993 and 1995.

Mixed the system involves a combination of majority and proportional systems; for example, one part of the parliament is elected by a majoritarian system, and the second by a proportional system; in this case, the voter receives two ballots and casts one vote for the party list, and the second for a specific candidate elected on a majoritarian basis.

In recent decades, some organizations (green parties, etc.) have used consensus election system. It has a positive orientation, that is, it 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. First place is awarded five points, second place is given four points, third place is given three points, fourth place is given two points, and fifth place is given one point. After voting, the points received are summed up and the winner is determined based on their number.

Types of Electoral Systems

Let's consider the electoral system in the narrow sense of this term, ᴛ.ᴇ. How a method of distributing seats in a government body between candidates based on the results of voting by voters.

Based on their origin, all electoral systems can be divided into three large categories :

1. Electoral systems that appeared evolutionarily. English-speaking and Scandinavian countries have a long history of free elections and their electoral systems have existed for about a century.

2. Electoral systems that emerged as a result of changes in the constitutional order several decades ago. The electoral systems of France, Germany, Italy and Austria are based on constitutions that were created after the Second World War.

3. Electoral systems that have recently emerged following the establishment of a new constitutional order. Today, Spain, Portugal, and Greece hold elections on an alternative basis, but the country’s electoral system, which recently introduced the principle of free choice, is not able to immediately institutionalize it fully. Post-Soviet countries, incl. and Ukraine.

Modern democracies use a wide range of different electoral systems (there are about 350 of them), each of which has its own inherent advantages and disadvantages. This diversity is determined by historical, cultural characteristics, as well as political goals. As noted by R. Taagepera and M.S. Shugart, compared to other elements of the political system, electoral rules are easier to manipulate, they allow you to create advantages for several large parties and negate the role of small parties or, on the contrary, give the latter the right to parliamentary representation.

As a rule, electoral systems are various modifications of two basic types: majoritarian And proportional.

Majoritarian system. At the root majoritarian system is based on the majority principle (the candidate who receives the majority of votes is considered the winner of the election). The electoral districts here are single-member, ᴛ.ᴇ. One deputy is elected from each district. The majority system has its own variations.

At majoritarian system of relative (simple) majority The candidate who received more votes than any of his rivals is considered elected. The system is simple because ensures the victory of one party (candidate) even with a minimal advantage. But it may happen that a minority of voters will vote for the winning party (the remaining votes will be taken by other parties), and the government that this party will form will not enjoy the support of the majority of citizens. In analogy with horse racing, this system is sometimes called “winner takes all.” Today this system is used in the USA, Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand, etc.

Majority system of absolute majority assumes that the elected candidate is the one who received more than half of the votes of the voters who took part in the voting (50% plus one vote).

In world practice, there are several varieties of this system:

· two round system. If none of the candidates receives more than 50% of the votes, a second round of elections is held, in which, as a rule, two candidates who have achieved the best results participate, which allows one of them to receive a majority of votes (absolute or relative). Such a system is used, for example, when electing the president of Russia, and in the second round the candidate only needs to receive a relative majority of votes;

· alternative voting is used in elections to the lower house of the Australian Parliament. IN single-mandate constituency the voter votes for several candidates, marking their preference for the voter with numbers (1, 2, 3, etc.) against the names (ranked voting). If no candidate receives an absolute majority, the candidates with the lowest first preferences are excluded from further counting and the votes cast for them are transferred to the second preference candidates. Next, candidates with the smallest number first and second preferences. Redistribution of votes occurs until one of the candidates receives the absolute number of votes.

· The majority system of a qualified majority is extremely rarely used, when the support of 2/3 or 3/4 of the total number of votes cast is required (found application in Chile when electing members of Parliament).

Proportional system involves voting on party lists, which means the allocation of a multi-member district (the district is the entire territory of the country) or several districts. This is the most common system (countries Latin America, Belgium, Sweden, etc.). The meaning of this system is essentially that each party receives a number of mandates in parliament proportional to the number of votes cast for it. Despite all its democracy, this system has one drawback. It guarantees the representation of even small parties, which in parliamentary or mixed forms of government creates problems with the formation of a government. This becomes possible when none of the parties has an absolute majority in parliament or cannot create one without entering into a coalition with other parties. In many countries, they are trying to smooth out this shortcoming, as well as excessive fragmentation of parties, by introducing an “electoral threshold” (barrier) - the smallest number of votes, which is extremely important for the election of one deputy. Usually in different countries it is 2-5%. For example, in Russia this threshold is 5% of votes.

There are many options for proportional voting systems.

· system with a national party list (Israel, the Netherlands). Voting takes place throughout the country within a single national district;

· a system with regional party lists involves the formation of several districts (Austria, Greece, Spain, Scandinavian countries, etc.);

· closed list system: the voter votes for a party and cannot express his preference for an individual candidate on the party list. Candidates on the party list are ranked in descending order of importance, and those at the bottom of the list have a lower chance of winning;

system with open list allows you to vote for a party and express preference for one of its candidates, ᴛ.ᴇ. voters can change the order of candidates on the list (preferential voting). This is done in various ways: the voter places a cross next to the names of the candidates he would like to see (Belgium); enters the names of candidates on the ballot (Italy); ranks candidates by degree of preference (Switzerland, Luxembourg), etc.

There is no ideal electoral system. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Proponents of using traditional varieties majoritarian voting systems among its main advantages highlight the following:

· direct connection between voters and the candidate for deputy;

· weeds out parties that are small in their influence from government bodies;

forms a parliamentary majority;

· contributes to the establishment of a stable two-party system;

· leads to the formation of a one-party, but effective and stable government.

TO significant shortcomings Critics of the majoritarian system include the following points:

· does not reflect the real balance of political forces in the country and does not ensure their adequate representation in parliament. This primarily applies to the single-round voting system, when the winning party is the candidate who received less than half the votes from those participating in the election. But even if one side gets 52%, the problem remains - 48% of voters will be deprived of representation. There are cases when up to 2/3 of the votes cast for unsuccessful candidates “disappear.” Such a situation can act as a source of potential political conflicts and contribute to the intensification of non-parliamentary methods of struggle on the part of the losing side;

· creates disproportions between the votes cast and the mandates received. For example, in 1997 ᴦ. in the parliamentary elections in Great Britain, Labor received 64% of the mandates, while only 44% of voters voted for them, the Conservatives received, respectively, 31% of the votes and 25% of the mandates, and the Liberal Democrats received 17% of the votes and only 7% of the seats;

· the possibility of regional (local) interests prevailing over national interests;

· leads to an increase in the cost of the electoral process, while holding the second round is extremely important.

TO positive aspects proportional systems elections include the following:

· provides more adequate representation of political forces;

· allows for representation of minorities (for example, ethnic, religious);

· stimulates the creation of parties and the development of political pluralism.

At the same time the proportional system has weaknesses:

· weak connection between the candidate and voters;

· dependence of the deputy on the party faction in parliament;

· generates large number rival factions in parliament, which negatively affects the stability of the latter’s work;

· promotes the formation (under parliamentary and mixed forms of government) of coalition governments, which are sometimes less effective and stable than one-party governments;

· Potentially increases the influence of the party elite in the formation of electoral lists, especially if a closed list system is used.

In a number of countries (Germany, Bulgaria) they are trying to find a compromise between the two election systems and use various options mixed system, which involves a combination of elements of proportional and majority systems.

For example, in Russia, during elections to the State Duma, half of the deputies (225 people) are elected according to the majoritarian system of relative majority, and the second half - on the basis of the system of proportional representation of political parties in the federal electoral district. A closed list system is used.

In political science, the issue of the influence of voting systems on the configuration of the country's party system and the nature of inter-party relationships is actively discussed.

Western political scientist R. Katz, having conducted research in Great Britain, Ireland and Italy, came to the following conclusions:

· proportional representation contributes to the manifestation on the part of parties of more ideological and radical positions on political issues than under a system of relative majority;

· in two-party systems, the ideological positions of the parties gradually become closer;

· Parties competing in small constituencies will be predominantly oriented toward leader personalities and patronage, while parties competing in large constituencies will tend to be issue-oriented.

French political scientist M. Duverger He came up with a pattern that is called " Duverger's law"According to this law, the majoritarian system of relative majority contributes to the formation of a two-party system (alternating two major parties in power). This is explained by the fact that voters will strive for the “useful” ( strategic) voting, ᴛ.ᴇ. voting for large parties that have a chance of success, understanding that votes cast for small parties will be “wasted.” This reveals a kind of “psychological effect” of the electoral system. Small parties are either doomed to constant defeat, or are forced to unite with one of the parties - the parties of the “favorites”. The two-round majoritarian system favors the emergence of numerous and relatively stable parties that depend on each other. Proportional representation contributes to the formation of a multi-party system, consisting of independent and stable parties with a rigid structure. The pattern noted by Duverger is not absolute and requires exceptions.

However, the following conclusions can be drawn:

1. The electoral system is a set of electoral procedures provided for by law and related to the formation of government bodies.

2. The electoral system operates on the principles of universality, equality and secret ballot. At the same time, the electoral legislation provides for a residence qualification and an age limit. The age limit is different for active (the right to choose) and passive (the right to be elected) suffrage. In addition, some countries (Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands) provide for compulsory voting.

3. Electoral systems are divided into three basic types: majoritarian, proportional, mixed.

Types of electoral systems - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Types of electoral systems" 2017, 2018.