List is a type of
electoral system which tries its best to be
proportional. Sometimes referred to as the National List (see below) or
Party List. It attempts to mirror the amount of
representation a
party gains in
seats with the number of
votes that the
party received. It possibly the best at accomplishing this.
There are two types of List system:
The List system can either use one large mutli-member constituency or have many multi-member constituencies. The single large
constituencies often cause the system to be called the
National List system. This form of the List system is used in
Israel and
the Netherlands (it doesn't differ from
Open List or
Closed List in any other way except for the
constituency size).
This system often leads to coalition government since it is very easy for a party to not have sufficient support to form a government and so parties need to band together with other parties in order to have sufficient support to form a government (if they cannot pass laws through their legislature then they have insufficient support). This can result in coalition governments which have a large range of parties since many small parties will be needed to form a government. In the case of the EU, there is no government to form, hence the reason that it is used in Britain (and other places in Europe) for elections into the European Parliament. It ensures good representation of parties and it doesn't matter whether there will be a coalition government (because there isn't one to form).
How it Works
The basic idea is that the parties draw up a list of candidates for each of the constituencies. People then vote for a party and the parties get the same proportion of seats as votes. Sometimes there is a specific quota which states the number of votes needed to gain a seat. The seats are then filled by the candidates on the party's list usually starting from the top and then working down (Open list works slightly differently). This of course is a very simplistic example and doesn't take into account the two other types of list system. Also, like most electoral systems, different places adapt the electoral system to their political system.
How it Works: Closed List
In this version of the List system, the list of candidates is closed (as in the voter does not see it). The party draws up a list of candidates for a constituency but the voter only votes on the ballot paper by chosing a party. The party then gets awarded a number of seats in proportion to the number of votes that they recieved and assign candidates from the list they drew up to those seats (they usually have their list in preference order from the top down).
How it Works: Open List
In this version of the List system, the candidate list is open to the public and so the voter chooses on their ballot paper not only their party but also a choice of candidates. They mark down which candidates in that party list they would rather like to get the seats. When the votes are counted up the party receives seats in proportion to the number of votes that they secured. What happens now is what makes the Open List system different. The party, when assigning candidates to seats, assign the candidates to seats that won the highest number of votes. So if the party managed to get four seats in a constituency then they have to assign to those seats the four highest vot] winners in that constituency.
Advantages
- Simple to understand
- Good translation of votes to seats. This means that the radicals/extremists still get represented even if they have little power in the parliament/assembly.
- Has fairly minimal amount of wasted votes
- Reduces apathy due to few wasted votes as well as fair representation. This tends to lead to better turnout.
- Encourages participation between parties in the parliament/assembly since they have to work together if they wish to form a coalition government.
- Leads to more diverse lists of candidates since parties can put down greater types of candidates rather than trying to only have one candidate that will appeal to the most people. So there can be upper class, lower class, black, asian, female, male, old, young etc. and the people can choose who they wish to represent them. There is no need to force a candidate onto the voters who is merely there to appeal to the widest range of people (which has a tendency of distancing the voters from their representatives and politics in general).
Disadvantages
- Coalition government is usually created and, due to the large range of parties, it is possible for a small, extremist party to hold the rest of the government to ransom (since without the extremist support the government would not have enough of a majority to pass legislation).
- Weak (if any at all) constituency link due to the multi-member constituencies
- With the Closed List system there is a lot of power given to party headquarters (rarely democratic) when it comes to choosing candidates.
- Coalitions that are formed may be filled with many parties that have a very broad range of views making it difficult to come to agreements (leading to legislative gridlock). This usually occurs when a coalition has parties that have broad ranges of ideaologies and so disagree strongly over things. Coalitions rely on compromise between the parties and when this does not happen then bloody political wars can develop quickly.
- Coalition governments are also said to be too indecisive when a quick decision is needed. When in a war, for example, people rarely wish their government to spend a week or so debating the current strategic topic since it is usually too late by then (unfortunatly).