French voters punished President Nicolas Sarkozy’s right-wing party in the first round of municipal and regional elections last Sunday, with big gains by the left.
A report in the Globe and Mail mentions in passing the rather unusual two-round list majority system used in these elections:
Between the two rounds, political parties generally plunge into a frenzy of deal-making to consolidate their lists of candidates, with the smaller ones merging their lists with those of the mainstream parties.
I am not aware of any similar systems, but if they exist, I trust at least one of readers will know!
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Two-Round Systems are also used in Egypt, Haiti, Mali, and perhaps elsewhere.
Seed planted by Wilfred Day — 16 March 2008 @ 05:53
…yes, but do any of those allow the parties or alliances that qualify for the second round to submit a list negotiated between rounds with those that did not qualify?
Perhaps they all do, but I was not aware of it.
Seed planted by MSS — 16 March 2008 @ 14:32
Apparently, at the commune level, half the seats are awarded en bloc to the winning list in the final round, and the rest are awarded proportionally, in parallel (in communes with less than 3,500 inhabitants, all seats are elected by open-list two-round bloc vote). If a list gets over 50% in the first round, there is no need for a second round, and proportional seats are awarded to all lists with 5% of the vote or more. If there is a second round, 10% is needed to advance, but such lists may fuse with lists that got between 5 and 10%. This is what all the fuss was about, since the rank-ordering of candidates then needs to be renegotiated. In the second round, a simple majority suffices for the bonus seats, while 5% is still the hurdle for the proportional ones (which are divided according to second, not first round votes).
In Paris, Marseille and Lyon the same system applies, but with each arrondissement deciding on their own majority (in Marseille groups of two arrondissements). These also have their own councils. Having only superficially read the Electoral Code, it seems that districting is possible in other places too, in certain circumstances.
The same system was introduced for the regional councils as well before the 2004 elections (in place of districted PR), in order to marginalise the Front National. But here only a quarter of the seats are given to the majority. The seats of each party or group are calculated at the regional level, but are, where applicable, then apportioned to departmental lists by d’Hondt, based on numbers of final-round votes.
In the “cantonal” elections to the conseils généraux at the departmental level, a single-member two-round system much like that for the National Assembly applies. The specially drawn constituencies are called cantons, hence the name. These date back to revolutionary times, but have been redistricted a few times after that. Every three years, only half the cantons in a department hold elections.
Note that in the French overseas departments (Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guiane, and la Réunion), which simultaneously constitute regions, both regional and departmental councils are elected, using quite different electoral systems, to handle different but no doubt overlapping functions for the same area.
Seed planted by Espen Bjerke — 23 March 2008 @ 14:52
Open list? Then how could there be any room for renegotiation of rank-ordering between rounds?
Thanks, Espen, for the detail you have provided here.
Seed planted by MSS — 23 March 2008 @ 15:25
Closed lists – I should have made more clear – in communes with over 3,500 inhabitants, as for regional elections.
Seed planted by Espen Bjerke — 23 March 2008 @ 15:59
Mon Dieu. And people (concentrated in, but not of course limited to, the British Labour Party) reckon STV is “complicated”.
Seed planted by Tom Round — 23 March 2008 @ 16:56