Respond to 2 Peer responses
Peer #1
Question #1: What are the major differences between majoritarian and proportional electoral systems?
A majoritarian electoral system is one in which candidates need to receive a majority of votes to be elected, whether it be in a runoff election or in a final round of voting. A proportional electoral system is one in which divisions in the electorate are reflected proportionally in the elected body. Most countries use a form of the PR electoral system. The proportional electoral system stresses the concept of proportionality which deals with numerical accuracy regarding the votes cast for parties and their translations into seats ultimately won in parliament. In the PR system, "if a party receives 25% of the votes, it can expect to win 25% of the seats" (Gallagher, Mair, and Laver, 2011, pg. 372). Majoritarian systems do not actively set out to disregard proportionality, but do prioritize other aspects that they accept a certain degree of disproportionality as inevitable.
Majoritarian electoral systems are seen in places like the United States, Canada, Egypt, etc. It is a system that emphasizes the "winner-takes-all" ideology and where the country is subdivided into distinct districts and politicians compete for the district seats. The higher vote wins the seat. Proportional electoral systems are more so seen in places like Denmark, Finland, Bulgaria, etc. This system uses a collective approach being as the votes are being given towards a distinct party, not individual. Both of these systems work in their own ways, providing the governments in these countries with a variety of advantages and benefits. Although this is all true, criticisms and issues arise as well that affect the governance of the countries.
Under the plurality system, some of the advantages include simplicity, stability, and constituency. It's a system that makes it easy for a voter to understand, it creates strong and stable governments, and strong territorial constituency by an individual legislature. Each representative has the support of most if not all its constituents. Some of the issues that arise with this system though are those pertaining to geographical concentration where even if parties don't manipulate district boundaries for political gain, this system can lead to over-representation of a specific party at the expense of others. Another criticism is that there tends to be less political parties in places with this system. There are usually only two. Various other criticisms arise such as redistricting and others.
Under the proportional system, the advantages include a greater degree of representation for smaller/minority parties. More constituents are represented so there are less "wasted" votes and encourages voter turn-out. Some disadvantages are the systems capability of providing extremists with lee-way into politics in which they force their ideas onto the public. It can also produce weak coalition governments rather than strong untied majority governments which leads to negative outcomes like compromisation. Just like the majoritarian system, there are advantages and disadvantages, but the major differences are the representation and unity they produce.
Peer #2
Question #3: What are mixed electoral systems? What countries use a mixed system? Why do you think this particular type of system was adopted by the countries that use it?