/ Q.l: What ban eledonJ system?

Highlight the najor features and merits & demerits of

FPTP (Pint Past the Post System).
Answr Templale
Introduction:
Electoral system are lnstJtutlonal rules, norms, procedures and structures by which
representation are dedded In democratic polltlcal system. Most lmportlnt of those rules
are for conversion of votes Into seats. As per GalLilgher, Electoral System are set of rules
that structure how voters cast( express his choice) votes In election and how these votes
are then converted Into seats. In a nutshell. rules of voting mid conversion of votes Into
seats won by political parties constitute electoral system.
Electoral rules may Include rules about who are eligible to vote (franchise rule), voting
rules. who are eligible to run for election, party funding & spending rules, party registration
and symbol rules, election periodicity. campaign rules, etc.
One of the most lmportanl Electoral rules Is Electoral Formula, that ~. the rule about the
winning fmmula to convert votes Into seats. .On the basis of electoral fonnula or winning
rule, Electoral system can be categorued Jnto Majodwtan (First Past the Post System).
proportional representation (PR), and Mixed representation.
Other rul~ as part of an Electoral systems are Dlstrlct (Constituency) Magnitude, that Is,
numbers of seats per constituency. Two types are common- stnglemember district (SMD)
or multiple member district (MMD). Rules related to Ballot Structure may be how voters
ca.,t their votes? Whether It Is seaete/open ballot Rules regarding ballot boxes, and ways
of voting -tick ~ • stamping, electronJc voting maohlnes (EVM). etc.
In many countrles, the Constitution speclflcally define the electoral system and mention
the electoral rules. In many other countries, such as Jn lndla, electoral system and rules are
specified In separate law/act passed by Parlliunent. In India. Representation of the People ·
Act, 1951 specify the Eiectoral system.
AI. stated above, First Past the Post System (FPTP) Is one of the winning formula or rules
for conversion of votes Into seats. Generic category of Electoral system to which FPTP
belongs to Is called Majorltartan system. In the Majorttartan system candidate w!Mlng
majority of the votes are declared wlMer. Majority vote may be more than 50% of total
votes casted (absolute majority rule) or maximum ·numbers of-votes among all candidates.
In latter case, the winning candidate may not be required to get more than 50% of votes.
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This variant of Majorltarian system ls-called First Past the Post System ( FPTP). As the
name suggest, the candidate who gels more votes than any other candidate reach to the
winning post first, and declared winner.
FPTP Js one of the simplest Electoral system. Many countries having parliamentary form
of govt., Including UK and India, follow this system. But as I shall explain later, the FPTP
has many demerits, most lmportanl being no direct co-relation between vote and seat
percentage. Thus, In FPTP, Seats won by parties are not In proportion of votes obtained by
them.

Features of FPTP:
• Single member constituency
o Generally, In FPTP, single member dlstrtct (SMD) rule Is followed.
o Hence, this system Is also known as SJngle Member Simple Plurallly system:
simple plurality denotes that winning cnndldate does not need absolute majority,
the candidate getting most votes among au candidate wins the seat.
• Simple, straight-forward, easy to understand
o Winning fonnula Is most stmple
o Unlike single transferrable voUng (STV) or AV (Alternate Voting), FPTP Is easy
to understand for both voters and candidates.
 • Dls-proponlonality
o No co-relation between vote and seal percentage
o For example, ln 2014 general electton, BJP got 282 seats (51% of seats) with 31%
<
of votes: In first general electton Congress won 364 of the 489 seats (74%) with
45% of votes.
o A party may win more seats with fewer popular votes than Its opponents, as
happened In 2018 MP assembly election, where BJP despite getting 41.02 % ( In
comparison to 40.89% by Congress), got lesser seats than those by Congress.
o This is due to 'winner take it nil' feature of FPTP. Even by getting one vote more
than the 21111 candidate, the 111 candidate wins the whole constituency.
• Quick vote counts and result declaration
o Unlike S1V or AV, there are no preference transfer In FPTP,
o Hence, vote counts and result declaration ls quick
• Clear geographic link between voter and representatives
o only one c:mdldate wins from the consutuency

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o Voting to candidate ls, direct, no party list or preferential voting

o Due to above two conditions, there Is clear link between voter, representatives, and
constituency ln FPTP ; geographic link between the representative and the
constituency and personal link between the voter and the representative.
• It gives way to 'strategic voting' phenomenon
o Voters may give their votes, against their first choice, to that candidate which has
chance of defeating the candidate the voters don't want.
o This Is because votes to losing candidates are w~ted In FPTP.

• FPTP results Into Two-party system

o called Duverger's Law
. .
o This ts due to dis-proportionality In built Into FPTP, wbtch ts unfavourable to 3rd
and other smaller parties. •
o Also, due to strateglc voling phenomenon In FPTP, 3rd party loses Its due votes
• Generally, FPTP produces clear decisive mandate
o In FPTP, winning party wlm big
o This is also because of ' ba!]dwagon ' eliecL Many undecided voters may vote for
candidates most likely to win. That ts, they simply ride on the bandwagon.
• Encourages broad based centrist parties
o Since such party tries to accommodate Interests of all segment of population, It
attracts votes from all segments/sections.
o On the contrary, extreme or single Issue-based parties are unduly punished in FPTP.
• Since FPTP was the Electoral system adopted by UK, most of post-colonial states who
were part of the British colonial empire, adopted FPTP.
o Despite this, FPTP Is not the most popular Electoral system. Majority of countries
have adopted proportional representation and Its variants.

Merits & demerits of FPTP:

Merits of FPTP De-Merits ofFPTP

Simple, straight-forward, easy to Unfairness: highly disproportionate: no

understand winning formula correlation between votes obtained and seats won
 1 1- :•, 1 I 'J

Pol Sc Help Exam Guide Comparative politics Semester 4 2021 Edition

Quick vote counts and result declaration Punishes sm:iller Issue-based parties
This llmlts the range of Issues undertaken by
political parties.

Can be adopted In large and diverse country Favours large parties and strong regional parties
even with low levels of Literacy and Punishes small parties and ones with
geographically evenly distributed support (the
'third-party effect').

Suitable for newly Independent post- Wastage of votes: votes of losing candidates are
colonial states due to Its simplicity wasted unlike In STV or AV

Representatives are directly accountable to Encourage Strategic voting: as stated above,

the voters ·1n the amstttuency, this ls due to voters cast their votes strategically not to choose
cJear llnk between voter and but only to defeat a certain candldate/party.
representatives.

Offers the electorate a clear choice of It offers only llmlted effective choice because of
candidate as well as of party lts duopollsttc (two-major-parties) tendencies.

Generally, FPTP provides strong stable It undermlnes the legttlmacy of government

Govt haVlng clear decisive mandate
This ls because the governments are formed
This ls due to Its features of Its supporting despite gettlng less than 5096 of votes.
two-party system and 'winner takes it all'
'Hence, technically, FPTP generally produces
feature
unrepresentative, minority go\'mllllents,

The elected Govt, which ts formed It creates lnstabillty because a change in

generally by a single party. Is directly government can lead to a radical shift of policies
accountable to the voters, unlike coalltlon and direction.
Govt.
This Is because of two-party system and partisan
politics, both of which ts encouraged in FPTP.

Generally, FPTP also provide strong It discourages the selection of a socially broad
opposition. This ts also due to its favouring spread of candidates In favour'of those who are
two-party system. attractive to a large body of voters.
Reduces the range of polltlcru discourse and
·political innovations.

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keeps political extremism at bay by making Encourages Majorltartanlsm: Minorities may be

It more difficult for small radical parties to excluded through electoral process In FPTP
gain seats It may also promote populism, and polarization In
It Encourages broad based centrist parties- politics.
catch all parties.
Conclusion:
The sanctity of representative democracy depends on free and fair election. Therefore,
electoral system, which provides the rules, norms and procedures for voting and elections
of candidate is of utmost importance In representative Democracy. There are multiple kinds
of Electoral system having· different rules for or voting, counting, and formula for
converting votes into seats. Why a particular electoral system is adopted by a country is
dependent on its specific historical and political context, especially its political culture and
historical political experience. For example, India adopted FPTP system because ft had the
experience of this electoral system under the British colonial rule. Also, for a country_as
large and diverse as India having very low level of literacy at the time of independence,
the simple and straight forward winning :formula of FPTP was most suitable. On the
contrary the more mature d~mocrades In :Europe~are now going for complex electrical
system such as AV·and STV.
As explained above, the FPTP system has the simplest, straightforward, and easy to
understand rules for voting and formula for seat conversion. It generally provides strong
and stable single party government which ls directly responsible to its voter. The system
establishes a clear link between the ~ g candidate and the voter. This system can easily
be adopted in large·and diverse country having low level of literacy. FPl'P discourages
extremism in politics. ·Bu~ FPTP has many demerits also. Most importantly its
disproporttonallty, which unduly punishes smaller issue-based party. It may exclude
minorities, woman, and other marginalised community through electoral process. It may
encourage majoritarianism, populism and polarization In politics. Because of its demerits.
of late, many countries are switching over to proportional representation ( PR). In
contemporary world FPTP has not remained the most preferred electoral system.
-

-p
Pol Sc Help Exam Guide' : · · ' ···Comparati ve politics Semester 4 · 2021 Edition

Q.2: Discuss the meaning, procedure, features, and merits & demerits of
proportional representation (PR) FJectoral system.
Answer Templa~:
Introduction:
PR system ls now lnaeaslngly being used In majority of the electtons worldwide. The main
reason behind this ts lts proporUonallty, that ts. the number of seats won by a party Is more
or less proportional to the percentage of votes obtained by It. Thus, PR system removes
major weakness of the simple plurality system such as at FPTP. PR electoral system create
a representative legislative body that reflects the overall dlstrtbutlon of public support for
each political party. This system unlike FPTP does not penalise the smaller or single Issue
based political pantes. PR system also help minority communities to send their
representative, In proportion lo their population, to Parliament.
But the PR.system. generally, Is more complex and votes to seats conversion ls not so
straight fwward as In FPTP. It uses complex mathematical and statistical formulas to
convert votes Into seats and also to matntlln proporttonaluy. Another downside of PR Is
that It produces fragmented the party system. Itencourages large number of splinter parties,
which are able to send their representative In Parliament. This makes formaUon of stable
government challenging. PR system, generally, produces coalition Government. The
proportionality In PR system. Is not perfect: It depends on many factors such as seats ln a
constituency (District magnitude), voUng -lhreshoJd, formula used for seat conversion,
variants of PR system, etc. This further adds up to lts complexity.

Proportional representation was ftrst used In the mid-19th cenrury ln Derimark by Carl
Andrae and ln Britain by Thomas Hare and John Stuart Mill. Currently more than 90
~tries use PR electoral system. Most of the European nattons except UK, France,
Germany. Italy, Latin American naUom: Argentina, Brazil, and others -South Africa, South
Korea, Sri Lanka, etc. are using the PR system. hi-India, srv PR system Is used for elecUon
of J>restdent. Vice President, and Rajya Sabha members.
There are mulUple variants of the P.Rsystem. Methods currently Jn use lncludethe slngle-
transferable-vote method (S1V), the party-list system, and the addlttonal-member system
or Mixed-member proportional representaUon· (MMPR). MMPR ls actually a mixed or
hybrid system. This Include features of bQth single member plurality system (SMP) and
party list system of PR

Features of Proportional representation (PR) system

Proportionality:
• First and the foremost feature of the PR system. ProporUonallty Is the USP( unique selling
proposition) of PR system.

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• ProporUonallty means that numbers of the seats won by a party Is proportional to the votes
obtained by It.
• Thus, there Is direct relatlonshlp between the seats won by a party and the votes obtained
bylt.
• HoweYer. ProportlonaUty ls never per[ect, It depends upon many factors; these are:
o District Magnitude (numbers ofseats In a constituency) : more the numbers ofseats
In a constituency the more Is proporUonaltty.
• Therefore, In many countries entire nation.ls one constituency.
o Voting threshold: Parties have to wln a minimum percentage of votes to get any
seat. For example, suppose the vote threshold ls 5 % . It means any party must get
at least 5 % of total votes to be eligible to be allotted seats In proporUon to votes
obtained.
• Thus, more the vote threshold the Jess ls proporUonallty
' o Fom 1ul:i used for seat conversion
• the two maJn fonnula are the largest -remainder rule and the highest-ave rage
rule.
o variants of PR system

• Proportion.iUty varies In SlV, Party 11st, MMPR. etc.

Multlmember Comtltueades:
• Proportional representation systems use multtmember constituencies, that Is, more than one
candidate Is elected from a single constituency
• In some cases, like. In GenTlillly, entire nation Is a single constituency.
PR system generally produces coa1ldon Government
• Smaller parties also get seats proportion to their vote's percentage. Hence, l:irge numbers
of parties are represented In parliament. Hence, difficult for a single party to get majority
of seats. Therefore, coalition Government Is the feature of PR system
Complex and time consuming
• PR uses complex statistical methods to convert votes Into seats and maintain
prQportlonnllty.
,
• This makes PR system complex and declaration of election results time consuming.

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Geographic link between the representatives and constituency Is broken.

• Especially In the closed party list Pllsystem. the voters simply choses the party; they don't
have any COMectlon to the candidates. Thus, link of representative to constituency and
voters ls not as clear as In FPTP.
PR system have multiple variants (variations}
• STY nnd·party List are Its two main types:
• Party List PR:
• Voters vote for party which declares list of party candidates who would be allotted
seats won by the party
• Generally entire nation ls one constituency
• Open party list vs Closed Party list:
• Closed party list: Party declares list of candidates In order of preference;
voters are allowed only to choose party.
• For example, a party wins 10 seats on the basis of total vote's
percentage. Then, flrst 10 names from top In the party list will be
nominated against these seats.
• Open party list: Parties declares their list of candidates without any
preference order. voters choose party and then give their choice of
candidate.
• Ex: Israel, most of European nations
• Single-Transferable-Vote ( STV) system
• Multi member constltuency; 3-8 seats;
• fixed quota of votes, calculated by different formulas, requJred to be obtained by
the winning candidates
• Voters cast single vote with preference, that ·ls. give rank 1,2,3,4... to each
candidate;
,· ' · .,., ,. 1" 'preferenm , ( ,J"' rank) votes of all candidate counted; candidates getting more
votes than the quota are declared winner.

• If no candidate gets the required quota. preferences of bottom most candidates

transferred to other candidates UU required numben of winning candidates are
found.
• EX: Republic of Ireland and Malta

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Merits & demerits of PR system

Merits af PR system De-Merits orPR system

FaJmess: Seats are proportional to votes Complex w1nnlng fcxmula. tough for masses
obtained to m1derstmd, lime CODSUIDlng counting

More diverse representaJJon- mirroring society Strong and stable single-party government Is
m1llkely
Coalition Government Is most likely

Minorities and other marglnalJzed Splinter and small parties may crop up.
communities also get representation

Smaller parties and parties having widely Encourages extremtsm- smaller, single Issue-
spread votes are nof penalized based party may dictate

Votes are not wasted Proportionality depends on other factors (DM.

mtxed. voting threshold, etc)
Voles ofloslng as well wlnnlng candidates are
re-allotted to other remaining candidates This makes It even more complex

No tactlcal or strategic voting or manipulation No geographic and personal link between

of constltuerwy bowtdarles(genym andering) representative, constituency, and voter

More Inter~party co-ordination and co- More polarlz.ed party system

operation- less confrontatlonlst politics Mulli-party system
Parties spread across enlire political
Ideologies.

Offer more choices to voters- cutting across In mulli member Districts and open party list
party line system, Intra-party competition- less unified
and dJsctplined party structure

Balance of Inter and Intra-party competition Fragmentation of Party system

Currently, most popular electoral system Unsuitable for large but poor countries having
low levels of literacy and polilical awareness.

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-- ------- ------ ----·- --~---

r

Pol Sc Help Exam Guid e Comparative politics Sem este r 4 2021 Edition

,Conclusion:
PR system refle ct more faithfully the people's support to dlffe
rent pollttcal parties across
the political spectrum In a country. This Is because of Its featu
re of proportionality. In this
system the number of seats won by a party more or less ls prop
ortional to the percentage
of votes obtained by it. Because of this proportionality feature,
PR system protect interests
of minority and other marglnallsed and divergent commun
ities better In comparison to
simple plurality system such.as FPTP. Because of these Inherent
strengths of the PR system
more and more mature democracies across the world are adop
ting this system.
But on the flip side, the PR ·system ls not simple, It uses very
complex statistical formula
for conversion of seats from votes and to maintain proportio
nality. In PR system, ft takes
more time to declare the result and form the Government. It
ls also criticized for creating
fragmentation In the party system. This ls because of the prese
nce of many small splinter
and single-Issue parties. This makes strong single party gove
rnment almo st Impossible in
PR system. Generally, It produces a coalition government.
This ls also considered Its
weakness. But It helps consensus building across the political
spectrum which makes the
political cultu re more tolerant and consensuS oriented. .
We have seen in the above discussion that there are two main
variation of the PR system.
First ls Single Transferable Vote (S1V) system in which
the winning candidates are
required to obtain a fixed quota of votes. The constituencies
are generally multi member.
In the 2nd variation, which ls called party list system, each polit
ical party issues its list of
candidates, and voters are selecting the party in close party list
system and both candidate
and party in the open party.list system.
In a nutshell, we can say that proportional representation is
more democratic ln the sense
that lt allows representation to all segments of population desp
ite their political divergence
from the mainstream. It checks majorltarlan and populist
tendencies in democracy. It
makes political culture more tolerant and consemual. Henc
e, despite its complexity, PR
system ls increasingly adopted in more and more mature demo
cracies across the globe.
Pol Sc Help Exam G~ide . I'ti · · .. ·, ··
Com para tive 2021 Edit ion
· po 1 cs Sem este r 4
la
Q.3 : Define electoral System Distin
h between the 'First Pait the Po■t
(FPT P) l)'lt em and
p
Pro por tion al Rep res eot a~ ( PR) system with sultable examples.

· ti,
(Answer hint: For the first part of the J'es on. refer to answer to Q.J at page 31. here only the
second part of the question ans wer
13

Introduction:

=
Firs t Past the Post (FPT P) and
in
Pro

ent elec tora l system follo wed In

c111t (var iatio n) of majorltl'.lrlan elec
an elec tora l syst em with man y vari
port iona l Represent..atlon (PR) are
dem ocra cies worl d over .
tora l syst em whe reas the PR Is the
ants In whic h prop ortio nalit y betw
FPT

een
P
two of the mos t
Is the simplest
gene
vote
ric name of
s and seat s

are maln talil ed.

note that both these electoral syst
ems are essentlalJy
Before furth er dlsc usst on we shou ld ; In othe r word s, both of them are
s won fn an electfon
the rule for oonv erttn g votes Into seat em the winn ing cand idate fs eithe r need s
majo rltar lan syst
form ula for Winning a seat Jn the e vote s than any
s poll ed (more than 5096) or mor
to obta in an abso lute majo rity of vote em In whtc h there fs
simp lest vari ant of majo rttar lan syst
othe r cand idate . The Jatte r fs the to get' mos t vote s amo ng all
and the whin er only need
sing le win ner from a cons tJtue ncy lmp le plur ality syst em, whic h
fs calle d sing le mem bers
com peti ng cand idate s. Thfs syst em cale the natu re of the
past the pmt (FPTP) syst em to tndf
In com mon lang uage Js calle d first to be ftrg amo ng all cand idate s.
cand ldate ·sfm ply need
winn ing form ula whe re the wlnn lng a cand idate may win
get majo rity of votes. For exam ple,
Thu s, In FPT P, winn er n~.not even less vote s than this.
if each othe r cand idate got
In FPT P with only 25 % of vote s,
proportional
won by a poUdcal party fs mor e or Jess·
In the PR syst em the mun ber of seals nt of PR syst em
by IL Two of the mos t com mon varia
to the perc enta ge of vote s obta ined y list syste m, each
) and party·list syste m. In the part
fs Sing le Tran sfera ble ·Vote ( SD! cons titue ncy. The vote r
cand idate for the mult i mem ber
polit ical part y decl ares 11st ·of Its s the part ies are alloc ated seats
r the coun ting of vote
simp ly need s to choo se a party . Afte ency has man y repr esentatives: 1n
. In PR. each .con stitu
In prop ortio n to the vote s obta ined ncy.
ds•.the entire coun try is one constitue
som e case s, such as In 'the Neth erlan
tituencies. the wlnn lng cand idate
need s to ~btain mor e
In the S1V . In a mult i mem ber cons a math ema tical formula. Vote rs
Is 'calculated thro ugh
than a fixed quot a of vote s which voti ng only the first
g candidates. In the flrst roun d of
give rank pref eren ces to com petin obtain mor e than
are coun ted and those cand idate s who
pref eren ce vote s of each cand idate gets the required quot a
wlJlners. In case no cand idate
the fixe d quot a of vote s are declared er seco nd pref eren ce vote s
idate fs struc k out and his/h
of vote s then the bott om mos t cand repe ated untll all the seat s of the
. This process fs
are alloc ated to rema inin g cand idate
cons titue ncie s are ftlled.

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Com para tive politics Sem este r 4
Pol Sc Hel p Exam Gui de
ntially based on
r that· FPT P and PR syst em are esse
From the abov e disc ussi on fl Is clea simp licit y and strai ght forward rule
P the esse nce Is Its
very diffe rent principle. In the FPT y. But PR becomes
esse nce of PR Is Its proportionalft
for winn ing a seat, whe reas the statt stica l meth ods for
mathematical formula and
com plica ted as It uses com plex r geog raph tc and pers onal link
, In FPT P ther e Is a clea
conv ersio n of votes Into seat s. Also vote r. Such cle.l r link Is lack ing In the
tituency, and the
betw een the representaUve, the cons not knowing for
em, espe ciail y In the party list syste m, In which the voters are
PR syst foun d betw een FPT P and
Man y such diffe renc es can be
whic h cand idate are they votin g.
PR elec toml syste m.
FPT P and PR syst ems :ire
Important differences betw een the
In the follo wing table the mos t
enlis ted wllh som e exam ples :
w:,. ,
DilTerence between-the FPTP and PR electoral system:

PR
Dtrrerence Point FPTP
Complex winning fonnula and
Simplicity Very simple and straight forward rule
dme-consumJng counting
for winning a seal/election.
Uses Complex mathematical
Simple for voeer to understand
fonnula and statistical tools for
Easy and less ume-consumlng vote conversion of votes
Into seats.
counting
For example, largest remainder ls
Quicker result declaration one such rule In whfch the total
number of votes obtained by I party \
Is dlvtded by the number of seats,
or some similar formula .
Also, uses complex methods to
maintain proportJonalJty.
Tough for voters to understand,
dJne consuming counting and result
declaration.
Proportionality No co-relation between vote and seat • Nwnbers of the seats won
percentage by a party is proportional to the
o for example, in 2014 general votes obtained by it.
election, BJP got 282 seats (51% of • However, Proportiona lity is
seats) with 31% of votes; In rll'St m::ver perfect. It depends upon

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general election Congress won 36-4 of many factors, such as,_numbers of

the 489 seats (74%) with 45% of seats ln a , constituency, vote
votes.
o A party may wht more seats
with fewer popular votes than its
opponents, as ~ In 2018 MP
assembly election, where the BJP,
desplle getting 41.0Z % ( in
comparison to 40.89% by Congress),
got lesser seats than those by the
Congress.
threshold, Fonnula used for seat
conversion, special methods to
maintain proportionality, etc.
For example, take vote threshold.
suppose the vote threshold ls 5 %.
It means any party must get at least
5 % of votes to be eligible to be
allotted seats in proportion to votes
obtained.
Thus, more the vote _threshold the
less ls proportionality

Ease In Govt Generally. easier and quick Govt Not so quick and easy way to fonn
fonnation formation. Government. This ls mainly due lo
no single party getting majority of
seats and presence of large
numbers of parties having few
seats.

Nature of Govt Generally, FPTP produces single Generally, PR system produces

produced by the pany majority Govt, which ls strong coalition Govt, which ls not
so
electoral system and stable. strong and stable.

Wastage of votes votes obtained by losing candidate votes obtained by losing candidate
obtained by losing are wasted. are not wasted.
candidate
Thus, effectively the voters voting for They are re-aUocated to remaining
lcislng candidate lose their candidates in SlV.
representation.
In party list system, all votes arc
counted for seat conversion.
Nature of party Ju. per Duvcrgcr's Law, FPTP results PR, generally, results Into multi-
system lnto Two-party system party system
0 This Ill due to dls- Fragmented party system (many
proportionality In built Into FPTP, splinter and smaller parties) ls
which ls unfavourable 10 3rd and common feature of PR system
other smaller parties

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Pol Sc Help Exam Gulde Comparative politics Semester 4 2021 F.dition

Effect on pollUcal More partisan and conflictual More consensual poUtlcal cuUure,
culture pollUcal ailture as for coalition formation support
of all parties are required.

Unk between Clear geographic llnk between ·the No clear geographic and personal
voter and Constituency and Its representative lln1t between the Constituency,
representallve voters. and representatives.
Also, clear link between voters and
their representative. For example, In close party list
system, the voter simply chooses a
party, without knowing for which
candidate he/she Is voting.

Representallon to Mlnortlles may lose representatloo In Mlnorlties get better representatlon

mlnorllles FPTP. ln'PR.
If votes of majorlty community are
polarl7.ed. the winning candidate rnay
not need mlnorlty votes.

Strategic or Because of the wastage of vote No neecffor nay strategic voting, as

tactical voling feature In FPTP, voters may vote not all votes are counted for seat
to get their preferred candidate convcnlon.
elected but to defeat the candidate
they don't like.
Mlnorttles and other excluded
categories of voters may vote In such
strategic manner.

Suitable for which Suitable for 1. Newly independent Su1table for country having great
type of country? country with low level of literacy and social diverslty and heterogeneity.
political awareness. Party Ust system ls suitable newly
Z. Matured democracy which may independent country with low level
handle polarised and conflictual of literacy.
politics and total change of regimes
from one party to other.

Countries About 47 countries- USA, UK, More than 90 counlrles- Most of

following these Canada, India, Pakistan and other the European nations except UK,
systems Commonwealth naUons France, Gennany, Italy, Latin
American naUons: Argentina,

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Pol Sc Help Exam Guide Comparative politics Semester 4 2021 Edition

 ., ' • ,> l

Brazll, and oth ers -South

Africa,
Sou th Korea, Srl Lanka

Conclusion:
In sum, FPTP and PR are two
mamstream electoral rules for
Both are based on very differe converting vot es into seats.
nt principle, have different feature
s, and outcomes. In fact,
bot h seems to be pole apart-
Essence of FPTP Is Its simple and
straightforward winning fonnul
essence of PR system. PR ls bet a. Proportlonallly Is the
ter able to reflect the popular sup
parties across the polltlcal spectru por t to different polltlcal
m. Mlnorttles and other diverse
representatlon tn PR. PR also social groups get better
does not suffer from manipula
tactical votlng, Gerrymanderin tive techniques, such as,
g (manlpulatton of constituency
FPTP. bor ders), etc. found in
Be ca ~ of these merits. des
pite Its complexity, PR ls being
countries. Currently. PR Is the adopted by more and more
mmt popular electoral system
numbers of countries followlng . It is followed ln twice
FPTP. In many COUJltrles follow
on to shift to PR . Even in UK ing FPTP, campalgl'ls are
, the odglnator of FPT P, shi
Important polltlcal debate. fting to PR has become an

Q.4: W rit e a sho rt no te on

Mixed representation system.
Answer Template:
As the name suggest, Mixed
representatlon Is a hybrid electo
features of both simple plurali ral system. In this system
ty system such as FPTP and pro
system are oomblned. Objective portional representation
to mix two different electrical sys
proportionality ,of the majoritarl tem ts to bal anc e the dis -
an (simple plurality system) sys
also to tak e ~ g e of the tem by the PR system and
clear linkage between the represe
majorltarlan system. Thus, the ntative and the voters of the
mixed, rep
resentatlon system ls trying not
advantage of FPTP and PR sys only to take
tem but also bying to mlnlmize
this also makes the mixed represe their dis-advantages. But
ntatlon system more complex and
time consumlng. The system also result declaration more
has to use complex methods usin
distribute seats and maintain pro g statistical formula to
portionality. This further adds up
to Its complexity.
Mixed representatlon Is called
mixed member proportional rep
Addltlonal Members system. It resentatlon (MMPR) or
Is oonsldered as a variant of pro
PR) system in which som e sea portional representation (
ts are elected through constituen
cy wis e voting using FPT P.

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- - - - -- -- ·- -- - - - - -- - - ---
Pol Sc He lp Exam Gu ide
Co mp ara tiv e pol itic s Sem est
er 4 2021 Ed itio n
ln the mixed representation
system, the total seats ln the leg
two parts. For one part of the sea islative body are divided Into
ts, the voters elect representative
through majorltarlan or simple from tl1elr constituency
plurality system such as FPTP.
the seats, voter cast their vole thro While for the remainder of
ugh the party list system of pro
Thus. ln this hybrid system, vot portional representation .
er cast two votes- one for can
constituency and second vote for did ate representlng their
the poUtlcal party as per the par
that the total seat distribution In ty list. It should be noted
the legislative body ls, however,
of the votes received In the par decided only on the basis
ty list PR system. For the con
voting generally single member stituency wise simple plurality
are represented from each constlt
party list the multi member con uency; whereas for the
stituencies are the norm.
I

" ·' "' Best aample-,of mtxe4 :tepresentaUon system Is election for the German parlJame.ot
Bundestag. Half of the total seats In the Bundestag Is elected by proportlonal represenllltlon
and remaining half by simple plurallty voting In sJngle-member comUtuencles. Each voter
casts two ballots/votes. The Hrst vote Is cast for an tndMdual to represent a consUtuency.
The candidate receMng the most votes wins the election. The second vote ls cast for a
regional party llsL The results of the second vote determine the overall seat sharing between
parties In the Bundestag. All parties lhat receJve at least 5 percent of the national vote or
win at least three constituencies are allocated seats on the basis of the percentage of votes
that they receive through the party list PR voting. The votes of parties not receiving
representation are re-allocated to the larger parties on the basis of their share of the votes
In the party list voting.
Other countries which have followed the German system Include Italy. Japan, New
Zealand. and several eastern European countries, such as, Hungary. Russia, and Ukraine.
Altogether about nine countries follow the mixed representation system.
Features of the mixed representation system are:
• Two- wte system:
o voters cast first vote for the candidate representing hfs or her consUtuency and
second vote for non-constituency representatives through party list PR system.
constituency seats varies from
• DMslon of numbers of seats between tonstltuencY an d non-
country to country. For example. In Italy and Japan. respectively. roughly ~ee-f ~
three-fifths of all seats are constituency seats. Whereas In Germany 50 % 0 tota sea
a;!
constituency seats. .
• The seat sharing fonnula :In the leglslatlve body ls decided only on the basis of votes
received through the secor1<fvote. that ls, the party 11st PR system.
• Toe system combines the beoeflt of dear geographic and personal linkage of representative
with the comt1tuency and voters as well as the proportionality of the PR system.
•'-- votes cast to the parties and no vote ls wasted. For this, different
• The system uses all u..,
formulas are used.
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Comparative politics Semester 4 2021 Edition

Pol Sc Help Exam Guide

• To mafntaln.proporttonalJty multiple methods are \lsed. Two most common formula or

methods for thJs are Jhe largest remainder method and the highest ayerage method.
0
Parties winning more seats than the proportion of votes, their seats are adjusted
using overhang seat formula. On the contrary, some parties receive extra seats
called 'balance ·seais• to maintain proportionality. Iii some cases, the size of the
legislative body ls increased to maintain the proportionality.
• Vote Threshold:
o In maey countries vote threshold is aJso applied In this system, that Is, a party must
get at least a certain percentage of total votes or some minlmum numbers of
constituency seats to get seats In proportion to the votes obtained through PR
system.
o For example, Jn Germany, a party should get· 596 of the total votes In the party list
or It should win al least 3 constituency seats. In New Zealand, a party must win at
least one constituency seat to be eligible to get seats Jn the proportion to votes
obtained through the party list PR system.

In sum, mixed representation system combines the simple plurality system like FPTP with
party list PR system. This allows the system to take advantage of merits of both the systems
while mlnlmlzlng their de-merits. But this makes the system more complex. Division of
seats between consUtuency and non- constituency seats, statistical formula to allocate seats
in proportlo~ to votes tn'the ~R system, methods to nialntaln proportionality, and ways to
manage the over-hang votes , etc. makes the system very complex. This may be the reason
that only few countries.In the world are using this system despite Its being most balanced
system.