Proportional representation or plurality voting electoral system: Its positive and negative aspects on democracy.

摘要

Free and fair elections are crucial elements for defining democracy. Fair elections will have to represent voters' true intent in the sense of proportionality between the votes gained in the election and the seats obtained in parliament. My project compares both the Majoritarian model and the Consensus model of democracy in terms of their electoral fairness. I ask the fundamental question: Which of the two systems promotes fairness and legitimacy in the electoral process? Most scholars have looked at this issue from different perspectives. Thus far, no study exists which explores both systems (Majoritarian and Consensus) from a fairness perspective. I argue that the Consensus model combined with low levels of electoral disproportionality should determine the fairness of the system and with that higher level of voter turnout on the elections. The findings affirm my expectations that fairness of the system is strongly correlated with the higher voter turnout.