Electoral Systems

Redistribution

• Process of dividing the country into electoral districts or constituencies.

• Two stage process1. Deciding how many seats to allot

in the House of Commons

2. Drawing the actual boundaries

Drawing Boundaries

• Boundaries are drawn every 10 years following the decennial census.

• Currently we have 301 federal seats.• Regardless of population each province is

guaranteed as many MPs as it has senators, and as many seats as it had in 1976 (Grandfather clause).

• This over represents all provinces except Ontario, B.C. and Alberta.

Canada’s Seat Distribution

ON 10 mil (103)

PQ 6.9 mil (75)

BC 3.2 mil (34)

AB 2.5 mil (26)

MB 1 mil (14)

SK 988 928 (14)

NS 899 942 (11)

NB 723 900 (10)

Nfld 568 474 (7)

PEI 100 000 (4)

NWT 57 649 (1)

Nunavut (1)

Yukon 27 797(1)

Gerrymandering

• Manipulating constituency boundaries to ensure electoral success.

• Some constituencies had huge boundaries while others were small.

• Typically conservative governments would receive more support in rural ridings so they would have many rural ridings to few urban.

Rotten Boroughs

Legend

  Liberal

  Canadian Alliance

  Bloc Québécois

  N.D.P.

  Progressive Conservative

  Other

  Incomplete Results

Elections in Canada

• Date is set by the prime minister within 5 years from the previous election.

• Don’t have fixed elections in Canada because of the nature of Parliamentary majorities.

First-past-the-post (FPTP)

• single-member

• Plurality

• The candidate that obtains more votes than any other is elected, even if that person only won a minority of votes cast.

Two-round System (TRS)

• single-member

• Majority

• A runoff election is held between the two top vote-getters, in order to ensure that the winner obtains a majority of votes cast.

Electoral Systems and Voter Turnout

Mixed MemberProportional (MMP)• Mixed• Proportional• The legislature consists of a block of seats

that are elected by plurality or majority from single-member districts, and another block of seats that are elected in multi-member districts under a proportional system. The proportional seats are awarded in such a way as to compensate for disproportional effects in the single-member district outcomes.

Party List

• Multiple member

• Proportional

• Voters choose from among party lists, and seats are awarded in proportion to the vote received by each party. Candidates are seated in the order listed.

Parallel• Mixed• Semi-proportional• The legislature consists of a block of seats that

are elected by plurality or majority from single-member districts, and another block of seats that are elected in multi-member districts under a proportional system. The proportional seats are awarded independently of the outcomes in single-member districts.

The Americas

plurality representation (first past the post)

Majority representation

parallel (semi-proportional) representation

list proportional representation

mixed member proportional representation

Europe and Africa plurality representation (first

past the post)

Majority representation

parallel (semi-proportional) representation

list proportional representation mixed member proportional

representation No electionsAlternative vote

Asia Pacific plurality representation (first

past the post) Majority representationparallel (semi-proportional)

representation list proportional representation mixed member proportional

representation No elections

Alternative voteBlock Vote

A few words on the Electoral College System• U.S. typically uses the single-member

district, plurality electoral formula.• The electoral college is used only for the

selection of the President and Vice-president.

• This process uses an indirect method of electing the American president.

• State legislators are elected to serve in the electoral college.

How it works• Each State is given a number of Electors

equal to the number of its U.S. Senators (always 2) plus the number of its U.S. Representatives

• The party that wins the most votes gets all the electors– The two exceptions to this are Maine and

Nebraska where two Electors are chosen by state-wide popular vote and the remainder by the popular vote within each Congressional district.

• Votes are sealed until January 6, when the president of the Congress opens and reads them before both houses of the Congress.

Electoral College – Creating Majorities?

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1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000Vote Electoral College

Electoral College 2000