The Finnish electoral system was introduced in 1906 and elections were held the following year. Since 1906, all women and men have been eligible to vote and to be nominated in elections. The age of eligibility has been successively lowered from 24 in 1906 to 21 in 1944, to 20 in 1969 and to 18 in 1972. The Finnish parliament (Eduskunta) consists of 200 MPs elected from 15 districts. Except the Åland Island district elects a single member, the other 14 districts are all multi-member (the district magnitude is determined by the population size). Basically, the Finnish electoral system is a list system of proportional representation with multi-member constituencies. The allocation of seats to parties (including party alliance) is following the d'Hondt method. The Finnish electoral system has undergone some transformations since it was originally introduced in 1906. As it works today, general elections are held every four years (there is a provision for premature dissolutions of parliament¡Va presidential prerogative). There is no predetermined order of the candidates within each list. The names of the candidates are normally printed on large sheets of paper, where each candidate has a number, and the names may be organized within each list for example in alphabetical order. The ballot paper is a small slip of paper, where the voter has to write the number of the candidate for whom he or she is voting. The individual votes thus received by different candidates within each list (normally each list corresponds to one party or a coalition of several smaller parties) will determine their final order. In other words, the voter has the duty to vote for a single candidate, and the electoral campaign is very much oriented accordingly, as a competition between individuals, although the voters presumably are also aware of the party affiliation of the candidates and of the fact that their votes will benefit not only the individual candidate but also the party in question. When the votes have been counted and the order of the candidates within each list thus has been established, the final allocation of seats to the lists is carried out by the election board on the basis of comparison numbers, using the d'Hondt method. At the allocation stage, the individual votes of candidates are no longer relevant, as the order has already been established, and the lists compete with each other on the basis of the total votes received for each list. Therefore, the election is not exclusively a competition between parties; it is also a competition between single candidates on the party list. Because of the deadlock at present on Taiwan's electoral reformation, I personally think that Finland's electoral system will probably be a good solution to the problems of electoral system in Taiwan, and should be included in the discussion of improving our electoral system. Hence, I recommend that Finland's model will probably be suitable to Taiwan and deserve more attention in the current discussion on Taiwan's electoral reformation.

A Revolução Federalista e o ideário parlamentarista remonta à história política do Império do Brasil. Com a proclamação da República em 15.11.1889, a vida política e social modificou-se sobremaneira. A forma de Estado deixou de ser Unitária para ser Federativa, o sistema de governo deixou de ser Parlamentarista para ser Presidencialista, a forma de governo deixou de ser Monárquica para se tornar Republicana. Tais reformas lideradas pelo Marechal Deodoro da Fonseca e por Benjamin Constant depositaram grandes expectativas no povo brasileiro. Todos os males do império projetavam-se na república. Com o tempo, o povo foi vendo, pouco a pouco, que as velhas mazelas que assombravam a vida imperial, rondavam, igualmente, a vida republicana. O sistema eleitoral e as reformas eleitorais não garantiam a plena democracia, tanto que Deodoro e os seus garantiram, artificialmente, a maioria na Constituinte de 1891. O alistamento ainda era forjado, a grande naturalização favorecia os Republicanos Históricos, sendo que a vontade da Nação distanciava-se, cada vez mais, da vontade dos proclamadores da República. A instabilidade política e social era acompanhada pelo abalo econômico. As constantes emissões, a jogatina na bolsa, o encilhamento, a substituição do trabalho servil pela mão de obra livre, a substituição dos velhos liberais e conservadores do Império pela mocidade imberbe da República, toda ela inexperiente, toda ela não versada no serviço público é que passou a gerir a vida pública nos mais diferentes estados da nossa federação. A ala jovem republicana, lotada em importantes cargos administrativos e governamentais, trocou os pés pelas mãos, angariando a raiva das forças tradicionais do Império. O Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, por exemplo, assistiu, durante o Governo Provisório, passar pelo Estado, nada menos que seis Governadores. A instabilidade política era total. A diátese revolucionária prenunciava levantes armados em poucos dias. Parafraseando D. Pedro, Deodoro abandonou o poder, momento em que assina o decreto de alforria do verdadeiro escravo do Brasil. Assume o poder o Vice-Presidente, Marechal Floriano Peixoto, o qual presta apoio político ao Governador do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, o Sr. Júlio de Castilhos. Ambos aliam-se contra o exército libertador de Gaspar Silveira Martins, que havia retornado do exílio e fundara o Partido Federalista Rio-Grandense, no Congresso de Bagé, para fazer frente ao Governo autoritário de Júlio de Castilhos. Travou-se no Rio Grande do Sul uma das mais sangrentas guerras de nossa história. A Revolução Federalista foi um guerra fratricida, que matou mais de dez mil homens. Estes revolucionários liderados intelectualmente por Gaspar Silveira Martins e militarmente pelo General Joca Tavares, Gumercindo Saraiva e Aparício Saraiva, guerrearam por três estados da federação (RS, SC e PR), fazendo a república tremer. Em certos momentos, a revolução parecia que garanharia contornos nacionais, e o Presidente Floriano temia o futuro da República. No governo de Prudente de Morais foi assinado, na cidade de Dom Pedrito, a paz farroupilha, momento em que os maragatos de Silveira Martins e os Chimangos de Júlio de Castilhos apertaram as mãos: estava consolidade, de vez, a República. / The Federalist Revolution and the ideas of Parliamentarism start from the Political History of the Brazilian´s Empire. With the Republic\'s proclamation in 11.15.1889, the political and social life changed substantially. The state form stopped being unitary to be federative, the government system stopped being parlamentarism to be presidentialism, the government form stopped being a monarchy to be a republic. Such reformations, leaded by Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca and by Benjamin Constant created great expectations in the Brazilian people. All the evils of the empire protruded in the republic. Over time, the people started to understand, inchmeal, that the old evils that haunted the empire, also prowled the republican life. The electoral system and the poll reformations do not assured full democracy, so that Deodoro and his cronies achieved, artificially, majority in the 1891´s constituent. The voter registration was wrought, the great naturalization favored the historic republicans, as the nation´s will distinguished increasingly from the will of the republic proclaimers. The social and political instability was accompanied by the economic debacle. The constant issuance of paper money, the gambling on the stock exchange, the encilhamento, the change from the slave work by the free work, the substitution of the old empire´s liberal and conservative politicians by the republic´s beardless youth, all of them lacking experience, without knowledge of the public service, started to manage the public life in the diferent states of the Brazilian federation. The republican´s youth wing, occupying important administrative and governmental positions, created confusion, causing rage by the traditional forces of the empire. The Rio Grande do Sul´s state, for instance, under the Brazilians Provisional government, had no less than six governors. There was a complete political instability. The revolutionary diathesis foreshadowed armed uprisings in few days. Paraphrasing D. Pedro, Deodoro abandoned the power, in the moment in which signs the emancipation decree of the true Brazi´s slave. The vice president, Marshal Floriano Peixoto, assumes the power, and provides political support to the Rio Grande do Sul´s state´s governor, Mr. Júlio de Castilhos. They both allied against the Gaspar Silveira Martins´s liberator army, which had returned from the exile and founded the Rio Grande do Sul´s Federalist Party, in the Bagé´s Congress, to oppose Júlio de Castilhos ´s authoritarian govern. Then happened one of the bloodiest wars of our history. The Federalist Revolution was a fratricidal war, that killed over ten thousand men. These revolutionaries, intellectually leaded by Gaspar Silveira Martins and military commanded by General Joca Tavares, Gumercindo Saraiva e Aparício Saraiva, waged war in three states of the federation (RS, SC and PR), making the republic tremble. In certain moments, the revolution seemed to gain national contours, and the President Floriano feared for the future of the Republic. In the Prudente de Morais presidential government was signed, in the town of Dom Pedrito, the farroupilha peace, when the Silveira Martins´s maragatos and the Júlio de Castilhos´s chimangos shaked hands: the Republic was consolidated, once and for all.

A Revolução Federalista e o ideário parlamentarista remonta à história política do Império do Brasil. Com a proclamação da República em 15.11.1889, a vida política e social modificou-se sobremaneira. A forma de Estado deixou de ser Unitária para ser Federativa, o sistema de governo deixou de ser Parlamentarista para ser Presidencialista, a forma de governo deixou de ser Monárquica para se tornar Republicana. Tais reformas lideradas pelo Marechal Deodoro da Fonseca e por Benjamin Constant depositaram grandes expectativas no povo brasileiro. Todos os males do império projetavam-se na república. Com o tempo, o povo foi vendo, pouco a pouco, que as velhas mazelas que assombravam a vida imperial, rondavam, igualmente, a vida republicana. O sistema eleitoral e as reformas eleitorais não garantiam a plena democracia, tanto que Deodoro e os seus garantiram, artificialmente, a maioria na Constituinte de 1891. O alistamento ainda era forjado, a grande naturalização favorecia os Republicanos Históricos, sendo que a vontade da Nação distanciava-se, cada vez mais, da vontade dos proclamadores da República. A instabilidade política e social era acompanhada pelo abalo econômico. As constantes emissões, a jogatina na bolsa, o encilhamento, a substituição do trabalho servil pela mão de obra livre, a substituição dos velhos liberais e conservadores do Império pela mocidade imberbe da República, toda ela inexperiente, toda ela não versada no serviço público é que passou a gerir a vida pública nos mais diferentes estados da nossa federação. A ala jovem republicana, lotada em importantes cargos administrativos e governamentais, trocou os pés pelas mãos, angariando a raiva das forças tradicionais do Império. O Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, por exemplo, assistiu, durante o Governo Provisório, passar pelo Estado, nada menos que seis Governadores. A instabilidade política era total. A diátese revolucionária prenunciava levantes armados em poucos dias. Parafraseando D. Pedro, Deodoro abandonou o poder, momento em que assina o decreto de alforria do verdadeiro escravo do Brasil. Assume o poder o Vice-Presidente, Marechal Floriano Peixoto, o qual presta apoio político ao Governador do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul, o Sr. Júlio de Castilhos. Ambos aliam-se contra o exército libertador de Gaspar Silveira Martins, que havia retornado do exílio e fundara o Partido Federalista Rio-Grandense, no Congresso de Bagé, para fazer frente ao Governo autoritário de Júlio de Castilhos. Travou-se no Rio Grande do Sul uma das mais sangrentas guerras de nossa história. A Revolução Federalista foi um guerra fratricida, que matou mais de dez mil homens. Estes revolucionários liderados intelectualmente por Gaspar Silveira Martins e militarmente pelo General Joca Tavares, Gumercindo Saraiva e Aparício Saraiva, guerrearam por três estados da federação (RS, SC e PR), fazendo a república tremer. Em certos momentos, a revolução parecia que garanharia contornos nacionais, e o Presidente Floriano temia o futuro da República. No governo de Prudente de Morais foi assinado, na cidade de Dom Pedrito, a paz farroupilha, momento em que os maragatos de Silveira Martins e os Chimangos de Júlio de Castilhos apertaram as mãos: estava consolidade, de vez, a República. / The Federalist Revolution and the ideas of Parliamentarism start from the Political History of the Brazilian´s Empire. With the Republic\'s proclamation in 11.15.1889, the political and social life changed substantially. The state form stopped being unitary to be federative, the government system stopped being parlamentarism to be presidentialism, the government form stopped being a monarchy to be a republic. Such reformations, leaded by Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca and by Benjamin Constant created great expectations in the Brazilian people. All the evils of the empire protruded in the republic. Over time, the people started to understand, inchmeal, that the old evils that haunted the empire, also prowled the republican life. The electoral system and the poll reformations do not assured full democracy, so that Deodoro and his cronies achieved, artificially, majority in the 1891´s constituent. The voter registration was wrought, the great naturalization favored the historic republicans, as the nation´s will distinguished increasingly from the will of the republic proclaimers. The social and political instability was accompanied by the economic debacle. The constant issuance of paper money, the gambling on the stock exchange, the encilhamento, the change from the slave work by the free work, the substitution of the old empire´s liberal and conservative politicians by the republic´s beardless youth, all of them lacking experience, without knowledge of the public service, started to manage the public life in the diferent states of the Brazilian federation. The republican´s youth wing, occupying important administrative and governmental positions, created confusion, causing rage by the traditional forces of the empire. The Rio Grande do Sul´s state, for instance, under the Brazilians Provisional government, had no less than six governors. There was a complete political instability. The revolutionary diathesis foreshadowed armed uprisings in few days. Paraphrasing D. Pedro, Deodoro abandoned the power, in the moment in which signs the emancipation decree of the true Brazi´s slave. The vice president, Marshal Floriano Peixoto, assumes the power, and provides political support to the Rio Grande do Sul´s state´s governor, Mr. Júlio de Castilhos. They both allied against the Gaspar Silveira Martins´s liberator army, which had returned from the exile and founded the Rio Grande do Sul´s Federalist Party, in the Bagé´s Congress, to oppose Júlio de Castilhos ´s authoritarian govern. Then happened one of the bloodiest wars of our history. The Federalist Revolution was a fratricidal war, that killed over ten thousand men. These revolutionaries, intellectually leaded by Gaspar Silveira Martins and military commanded by General Joca Tavares, Gumercindo Saraiva e Aparício Saraiva, waged war in three states of the federation (RS, SC and PR), making the republic tremble. In certain moments, the revolution seemed to gain national contours, and the President Floriano feared for the future of the Republic. In the Prudente de Morais presidential government was signed, in the town of Dom Pedrito, the farroupilha peace, when the Silveira Martins´s maragatos and the Júlio de Castilhos´s chimangos shaked hands: the Republic was consolidated, once and for all.