Second Ballot (idea)

Second Ballot is a type of electoral system that (as the name suggests) allows the voters to vote twice. This is a majoritarian system that doesn't even attempt to be proportional and neither does it try to give fair representation to small parties.

How it Works

Parties put up candidates for election in the single member constituency. Then there is the first vote. The voters vote for whoever they like and the votes are tallied. If one of the candidates wins over 50% of the vote (wins a majority) then that candidate automatically wins. If there is no clear winner then there is a second ballot (hence the name) about a week or so later.

At this point things can differ depending on how the system is implemented:

• In some implementations, only the top two candidates are allowed to participate in the second ballot. This makes sure that there will be a majority this time round (this occurs in elections in France).
• In other systems, either all candidates can take part in the second ballot regardless or candidates have to surpass a certain percentage of the vote (such as 10%) to be allowed to continue into the next ballot.
• Some allow newcomers to enter in the second ballot (such as the elections for the Conservative party leadership).

Advantages

• It is difficult for small parties (possibly extremists) to gain control of power. This is due to the majoritarian nature of the system.
• It leads to a non-coalition government which (some people believe) is a strong governent.
• If a voter's vote is wasted on a candidate that loses in the first election then they can make a difference in the second vote.
• Because of the above it gives the winner legitimacy (which is very important).

Disadvantages

• It doesn't allow small parties to gain a foothold in the political system of the country. For example, a new left-wing party may not be able to gain enough support because the people don't believe it to have any chance of taking on the dominant parties.
• Leads to tactical voting.
• Parties involved in the race might make pacts to help each other. Rather than two parties striving to get into power they might join forces to defeat a more dominant party (e.g. one candidate might deliberatly drop out of the second ballot if they did badly in the first ballot and persuade their supporters to vote for the opposition in return for favours if they get into power)
• Not proportional in any sense.
• Wastes votes in the first ballot.

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Example

In France they use the Second Ballot system for their presidential elections. To get into the second ballot (if no one has won a clear majority in the first ballot) then you must be one of the top two. In the second ballot you are then guarenteed to get one candidate winning a majority.

They also use a Second Ballot system for their parliamentary elections (where the candidates have to surpass 12.5% share of the votes to go to the next ballot) and the municipal elections use an even more complex system of Second Ballot. thanks to Linca for those omissions

These are the results from the 1995 presidential election

First Ballot

Lionel Jospin (PS): 23.2%
Jacques Chirac (RPR): 20.4%
Edouard Balladur (RPR): 18.5%
Jean-Marie Le Pen (FN): 15.2%
Robert Hue (PCF): 8.7%

Second Ballot

Jacques Chirac: 52.7%
Lionel Jospin: 47.3%

Jacques Chirac won the elections and became President of the Republic of France.

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See also:

• Electoral System
• First Past the Post
• Supplementary Vote
• Alternative Vote
• Single Transferrable Vote