To evaluate voting rules, it would be good to know what universe election outcomes are drawn from. Election theorists have postulated that elections might be drawn from various stochastic preference models, including the IC and IAC conditions, but these models induce empirically contradicted predictions. We use two distinct data sets, FairVote and German Politbarometer survey. Based on the data information, we suggest approaches that differ from those probabilistic models to better approximate the actual data in Chapter 3 and 4. Chapter 5 applies the spatial model for four-candidate in a three-dimensional setting. We also offer a significant gap between the actual and simulated data under the IAC conditions by comparing their statistical characteristics. / Doctor of Philosophy / Through the 1884 Third Reform Act, the plurality rule (or first-past-the-post system) runs to elect parliament members for the first time. More than a hundred years passed after the Act, and election theorists have suggested various alternatives, the plurality rule is the second most used rule worldwide for national elections for now. One main reason is that researchers do not reach an agreement on the best alternative rule. Theorists have evaluated different voting rules under probabilistic assumptions, but real-world examples contradict the predictions of these models. In this dissertation, we suggest different approaches provide a better approximation to the actual data. In Chapter 3 and 4, we go backward: analyze how voters of each preference order are distributed in real data first, then set a model for estimating the frequency of paradox. In chapter 5, we extend an existing model with higher dimensionality. Then using the model, we offer empirical evidence showing the gap between the actual and simulated data under a popular probabilistic model.

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General Election to the House of Commons Abstract The aim of this thesis is to analyze the electoral process of general elections to the House of Commons of the British Parliament. The text analyzes the problematics of the two basic questions. The first question is, in regards to the scope, more comprehensive, and it is an analysis of the aforementioned general elections. The second area of the matters relates closely to the first area and concerns the referendum on changing the electoral system in 2011. The text is logically structured into four chapters, which are usually further divided into subsections. The first chapter is devoted purely to the British Parliament in general, spanning from their historical origins to today's modern appearance. It also includes a brief specification of both of the Houses, including their composition and a scope of work. The second chapter is discussing the matter of general elections, the introduction to this chapter is devoted to applied electoral system. This system is based on the principle of "first past the post", which belongs to the "family" of majority electoral systems. The specifics of the application of the system are mentioned, pointing out the benefits and so-called system errors that the system entails. Next subsection discusses the systematics of election...

This thesis provides a detailed account of the introduction, use, and repeal of the alternative vote (AV) in British Columbia in the 1950s. It argues that British Columbians, familiar with polarized, two-party politics, were dismissive of majority representation. Conversely, the public expressed a strong preference for local representation during discussions of redistribution. While the Liberal and Conservative Coalition parties introduced AV to keep the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation from forming a government, party members were often stronger proponents of electoral reform than their leaders. Nevertheless, the system was debated in terms of democratic values. This was true of electoral reform debates across Canada, including federal debates on proportional representation. Contrary to histories that focus solely on the 1952 and 1953 AV elections and W.A.C. Bennett and Social Credit, this project traces the origins of the alternative vote in BC from the 1940s forward, including ongoing discussions of the single transferable vote (STV) and a points system. The history of BC’s provincial party system in the twentieth century is included in order to establish how polarized politics affected British Columbians’ attachment to the idea of local representation. This thesis contends that the public’s preference for plurality voting contributed to its dismissal of AV: even those who ranked multiple candidates did not necessarily endorse the system. This project also looks at the alternative vote debates in the 1970s and redistribution commissions in BC, particularly the 1978 Eckardt Commission, in order to better understand British Columbians’ attachment to local representation and first-past-the-post, and their dismissal of a preferential system that encouraged them to rank candidates. Social Credit favoured regional representation over representation by population during the redistribution process, and the theme of local representation has consistently framed discussions of electoral reform in British Columbia, including the 2004 BC Citizens’ Assembly’s STV proposal.

The thesis is about New Zealand House of Representatives electoral system. In introductory part is briefly presented the political system of New Zealand. Then is currently used electoral system, its genesis and impacts of transition from the first past the post to mixed member proportional system researched. Thesis is in its effort focusing on segments of electoral system and trying to identify its problematic points and to introduce alternative electoral system proposed to the electors in referenda. The thesis is using the electoral studies methods, especially quantitative measuring of attributes of electoral system and party structure within the House of Representatives.