POLS 280 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Plurality Voting System, Closed List, Proportional Representation

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Political Studies
• Course: POLS 280
• Professor: Elizabeth Goodyear- Grant

Document Summary

Candidate with the most votes (plurality) wins seat. A party(cid:495)s vote share equals its share of legislative seats. Closed list pr by far is the most popular. People vote for a party, with in turn assigns seats based on a pre-determined list of candidates. These two factors are more likely to produce greater gender equality in representation in pr systems (compared to smp) because: Contagion effect: small parties encourage large parties to emulate them. Demonstration effect: smaller parties with more gender equitable lists demonstrate no electoral penalty in nominating women. Electoral competition in pr systems: smaller parties more electorally competitive. Larger parties pressured to nominate women due to potential loss of votes (which equals los of seats in pr systems) Pr systems are more likely to have quotas than smp systems. Official party rules (cid:523))n party by laws or party constitution(cid:524), or unofficial (cid:494)targets(cid:495) Constitutional and statutory quotas usually include candidacy quotas or reserved seats.