System of proportional representation in the Czech Republic and its critique Abstract The diploma thesis "System of proportional representation in the Czech Republic and its critique" deals with the proportional representation in the Czech Republic, particularly its most criticized aspects. The purpose of this paper is to analyse this system, its characteristics, forms and reforms under the Czech conditions. The first chapter defines proportional representation and describes its constituent elements - a legal threshold, electoral formulas (quotas and divisors), electoral districts and tiers and preference votes. Chapter Two is concerned with four specific forms of this system applied in the Czech Republic. It describes elections to the Chamber of Deputies, local elections, elections to the regional assemblies and European elections. The third chapter outlines the problems of Czech electoral reforms - specifically the big reform of elections to the Chamber of Deputies from 2000 and the case of Prague elections in 2010 which both had to be brought to the Constitutional Court. Chapter Four offers a critical look on proportional representation in the Czech Republic. It consists of five parts. The first part focuses on the confusing system of local elections. Part two deals with the legal threshold. The third...

<p>This is a Minor Field Study (MFS) which is a scholarship financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). It was conducted in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa in 2007/2008. The purpose of this study is to understand the role of the political representative in the system of political representation and it will test the different theories of political representation based on interests or identity. This study is concerned with the function of the political representatives as they are the link between the system of representation and the electorate. Since the election system is designed for political representation based on interest and the voting in South Africa suggests voting based on identity/race the representatives must balance these different signals.</p>

This dissertation consists of three essays investigating questions of politics and policy. The first essay proposes an index that assigns probabilities to all majority coalitions. This index takes as inputs the seat shares and policy positions of the parties represented in parliament. In addition to providing coalition probabilities, it has some desirable properties lacking from the commonly used concept of the minimum-connected winning coalition. In an empirical test, the proposed index slightly outperforms the predictions generated by this standard concept. Furthermore, the probabilities generated by the index are shown to be empirically meaningful. The second essay proposes a model of voter decision-making in proportional representation systems: ultra-rational strategic voters construct expectations of coalitions and policy outcomes based on expected seat distributions and attributed policy positions and vote to maximize their expected utility. The predictions of the model are examined using data from the Netherlands and successfully predict the voting behavior of significant numbers of voters. Nevertheless, other factors matter more than the strategic prediction. Three main take-aways follow: (1) At least to some extent, voters seem to take complex coalition considerations into account. (2) There is a need for large-scale qualitative studies about voter decision-making in proportional representation systems. (3) Narrowly defined strategic voting might matter less in proportional representation systems than in plurality systems. The third essay presents new data on effective corporate income tax rates in 85 countries in 2004. The data come from a survey, conducted jointly with the World Bank’s Doing Business unit and PricewaterhouseCoopers, of all taxes imposed on "the same" standardized mid-size domestic firm. In a cross-section of countries, the estimates of the effective corporate tax rate have a large adverse impact on aggregate investment, FDI, and entrepreneurial activity. Corporate tax rates are correlated with investment in manufacturing but not services, as well as with the size of the informal economy. The results are robust to the inclusion of many controls.

In 2005 Prince Edward Island’s plebiscite on replacing the single member plurality (SMP) voting system with a mixed member proportional (MMP) voting system was defeated. In New Brunswick a similar referendum, recommended by the Commission on Legislative Democracy in 2004, was never held. This thesis investigates media coverage of these recent electoral reform initiatives in Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. Specifically, it examines local newspaper coverage of each province’s electoral reform initiatives and analyses the findings to determine if the newspapers demonstrated any bias for or against the implementation of a new voting system. It concludes that in each province the local newspaper media demonstrated a pro-electoral reform position, though there was considerable variation between the newspapers with respect to the breadth of coverage, the amount of bias and how that bias was articulated to readers. / Graduate

Univ., Diss.--Uppsala, 1999. / Zsfassung in engl. Sprache.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Canterbury, 2008. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (p. 445-468). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 1976. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this study the representation of the Coloured population group in the local evaluation process in South Africa until 1971, is analysecd to determine the effectiveness of this system of representation. In theory representatives selected in an open democratic election are supposed to act in the interest of the voters they represent, in a manner responsive to them. In this way the voters or citizens have access to and control over the decision-making centres of government, and are represented in the legislative structures of government. Representation can be analysed in two ways. / INLEIDING: Gedurende die periode 1960 - 1972 was die Kaapprovinsie die enigste provinsie binne die Republiek van Suid-Afrika waar Kleurlinge (en Indiërs) saam met Blankes deelgeneem het aan die plaaslike bestuursprosesse, sonder dat daar formeel ‘n rasse- of kleuronderskeid gemaak is tussen munisipale kiesers. Hierdie gesamentlike deelname het egter nie sonder "wrywing" plaasgevind nie, en dit was dan ook een van die redes vir die verwydering van die Kleurlingkiesers op 14 Januarie 1972 vanaf die gemeenskaplike munisipale kieserslys en die ontneming daardeur van hul direkte stemreg op die plaaslike bestuursvlak ten gunste van verteenwoordiging in sekere adviserende bestuurs- of raadplegende komitees vir Kleurlinge wat in ‘n ondergeskikte posisie teenoor die munisipale- of afdelingsraad in die betrokke plasslike owerheidsgebied verkeer.

Au début du vingtième siècle, après deux décennies sans réforme électorale, le mode de scrutin devient un sujet de controverse. Cette étude se propose d’examiner les conditions du choix de la représentation proportionnelle par les membres de la Chambre des députés française ainsi que par d’autres militants. Au-delà de la rééligibilité législative, c’est à travers le changement du mode de scrutin (introduction du scrutin de liste et de la représentation proportionnelle) que le problème de la réélection apparaît sous la Troisième République. Les professeurs de droit constitutionnel, tant à Paris qu’en province, délaissent cette expertise malgré quelques entreprises militantes éparses. Leurs étudiants formulent alors un savoir académique vite enserré par les contraintes récurrentes des jurys de thèse. Nous cherchons à examiner pourquoi et comment le parlement s’est emparé de cette question. Si les conservateurs et les socialistes sont les plus zélés partisans de la représentation proportionnelle, on ne peut en rester au fait que les partis défendent des systèmes qui les favorisent le plus. Notre étude insiste sur la stabilité socio-biographique du recrutement parlementaire plutôt que sur les variations de majorité et donc d’intérêts. Il faut expliquer pourquoi et comment ce fut le débat parlementaire lui-même qui a pu aboutir à une réforme électorale. Le système mixte de 1919, entre proportionnelle et principe majoritaire, exprime cette tendance des députés à l’ « auto-critique » qui dessine in fine un « auto-portrait ». Progressivement, les circulaires ministérielles adressées aux préfets confondent ces problèmes en un seul mouvement qui tente de codifier l’organisation des candidatures qui pourrait être au fondement du renouvellement souhaité. Ce travail préfectoral retire aux seuls entrepreneurs électoraux le monopole de l’anticipation des résultats et en ménage une co-production administrative. Dans la production préfectorale, de nouvelles cartes des circonscriptions uninominales ont eu tendance à perpétuer le traditionnel « scrutin d’arrondissement ». Ces tentatives de réforme électorale spatiale ont également introduit une nouvelle échelle dans le déroulement des campagnes électorales. Cet élargissement de la capacité électorale a été rendu possible par une nouvelle représentation : la circonscription administrative du département a eu tendance à devenir le critère principal de la mobilisation électorale que ce soit pour la loi électorale de 1919 ou celle de 1927. / Early twentieth century, after two decades of indifference to electoral reform, the electoral system has become a controversial question. This study explores the factors that should been taken into consideration when members of the French Chamber of Deputies and some other activists have tried to choose “proportional representation”. Beyond its political and legislative dimensions, the problem of re-election of representatives in the Third Republic was influenced by manipulation of electoral rules – in particular the introduction of proportional and list voting. In Paris and in Province, professors desert this part of doctrine in spite of some militant activities. Students had produced their thesis under constraint because the boards of examiners were always the same. We seek to explain how and why Parliament becomes leader in this electoral reform. Conservatives and Socialists advocated more strongly the proportional representation. The problem is often stated on the level in which every political party prefers the electoral system that favors it. This study will underline the biographical and social effect of membership stability instead of change in partisan control of the legislature. We seek to explain why a parliamentary debate may lead to a change in the established electoral system. The mixed system of 1919, between proportional representation and majority principle, expresses the deputies’ trends to self-criticism which is also self- representation. Increasingly, ministerial letters of instruction to Prefects tend to conflate these elements into a single effort to codify the pre-selection of candidates who could form the base of the desired political renewal. In this way, the monopoly of expertise relating to anticipating and predicting electoral outcomes once held political entrepreneurs was replaced by co-management of elections by them and the Prefects. First, new maps for single-seat districts have tended to perpetuate the traditionnal “scrutin d’arrondissement”. These attemps of spatial electoral reform have introduced a new scale in electoral campaign. This enlargement of electoral capability was made possible with a new representation : the administrative district of “département” has tended to become the main criterion in electoral mobilization whatever one of the two different electoral rules in 1919 and 1927.

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This paper investigates the relationship between ethnic conflict, electoral systems, and power sharing in ethnically divided societies. The cases of Guyana, Fiji, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, Mauritius, and Trinidad and Tobago are considered. Electoral systems are denoted based on presidential versus parliamentary system, and on proportional representation versus majoritarian/plurality. The paper concludes that, while electoral systems are important, other factors like the power distribution between ethnic groups, and ensuring a non-zero-sum game may be as important.