Government and Electoral Systems

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Recommended: Proportional representation advantages and disadvantages

Majoritarian system provides for a stable government but considering South Africa’s political stability in the past, it can be argued that a hybrid system leaning more towards proportional representation is much more effective and relevant than a strictly majoritarian or proportional system to the South African government because of it’s inclusivity of all of the South African diverse citizens remedying the previous inequalities that the apartheid system introduced. Drawing from the ideologies of Norris and Blais, the major differences between majoritarian and proportional representation and as well as the two electoral systems that allow for accountability and social representation go into the argument for proportional representation for South African government. An electoral system is defined as what defines the processes by which votes are translated into seats in the process of electing politicians into office . In a democracy, there are two common electoral formulas which defines how votes are translated into parliamentary seats, the majoritarian and proportional representation systems moreover are different in many ways. According to Norris, the majoritarian system is a ‘traditional and simple electoral system, mainly focused on effective governance’. A majoritarian system requires the presidential candidate and his/her political party to ‘obtain a minimum of 50% of the sum total of votes’ in order to form a strong, functioning government . The fundamental characteristic is that there is a lone ruling unified political party government, with sole responsibility, accountability and supporters for effectiveness and stability However proportional representation is based the principle that diversity should be equally... ... middle of paper ... ...nefit the South African government as it will ensure the amalgamation of the benefits of both systems thus ensuring a successful, inclusive and strong government. Bibliography Blais, A., 1991.The Debate over Electoral Systems. London: Sage Publications. Blais, A., and Carty, R.,1988. The Effectiveness of the Plurality Rule. London: Cambridge University press. Downs, A., 1957. An Economic Theory of Democracy . New York: Harper. Fick, G., 2005. Election Democracy: Is there Free and Fair Selection of Decision Makers. In Capetown: IDASA Grofman, B., and Lijphart, A., 2002. The evolution of electoral and party systems in the Nordic countries. USA: Agathon Press. .Locke, J., 1924, Two Treaties on Government Dent. London. Norris, P., 1997. Choosing Electoral Systems: Proportional, Majoritarian and Mixed Systems London: Sage Publications Ltd.

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