Electoral reform is change in
electoral systems to improve how public
desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms
of:
- Voting systems, such as runoff voting, instant runoff voting, approval voting, citizen initiatives and referendums, recall
elections, and proportional representation
- Vote-counting procedures
- Rules about political parties (typically changes to election
laws)
- Eligibility to vote
- How candidates and political parties are able to stand
(nomination rules) and how they are
able to get their names onto ballots (ballot access)
- Electoral constituencies and election district borders
- Ballot design and voting equipment
- Scrutineering (election monitoring by candidates, political
parties, etc.)
- Safety of voters and election workers
- Measures against bribery, coercion, and conflicts of
interest
- Financing of candidates' and referendum campaigns
- Factors which affect the rate of voter participation (voter turnout)
- Many other aspects
Continuous change
There are many such movements globally, in almost all democratic
countries, as part of the basic definition of a democracy is the
right to change the rules.
Political
science is imperfect; electoral reforms seek to make politics
work a bit better, a bit sooner. The solution to the problems of
democracy tends to be "more democracy." Electoral reform is a
permanent feature of any healthy democracy.
Nation-building
In less democratic countries, elections are often demanded by
dissidents; therefore the most basic electoral reform project such
countries is to achieve a transfer of power to a democratically
elected government with a minimum of bloodshed, e.g., in South
Africa in 1994. This case highlights the complexity of such reform:
such projects tend to require changes to national or other
constitutions, and to alter balances of power. Electoral reforms
are often politically painful.
Role of United Nations
The
United Nations Fair Elections
Commission provides international observers to national elections
that are likely to face challenges by the international community
of nations, e.g., in 2001 in Yugoslavia, in 2002 in Zimbabwe.
The United Nations standards address safety of citizens, coercion,
scrutiny, and eligibility to vote. They do not impose ballot
styles, party diversity, or borders on electoral constituencies.
Various global political movements, e.g.,
labour movements, the
Green Party,
Islamism,
Zionism, advocate various cultural, social,
ecological means of setting borders that they consider "objective"
or "blessed" in some other way. Contention over electoral
constituency borders within or between nations and definitions of
"refugee", "citizen", and "right of return" mark various global
conflicts, including those in Israel/Palestine, Kashmir, the Congo,
and Rwanda.
Electoral borders
Redrawing of electoral constituency (or "riding" or "district")
borders should be conducted at regular intervals, or by statutory
rules and definitions, if for no other reason than to eliminate
malapportionment
attributable to population movements. Some electoral reforms seek
to fix these borders according to some cultural or ecological
criterion, e.g.,
bioregional
democracy – which sets borders to fit exactly to
ecoregions – to avoid the obvious abuse of
"
gerry-mandering" in which
constituency borders are set deliberately to favor one party over
another, or to improve management of the public's commonly owned
property.
National reforms
National electoral reform projects tend to be simpler and less
focused on life-and-death matters. Australia and
New Zealand held Royal
Commissions to find the best form of "proportional representation"
of parties in the legislature and redesigned ballots to select or
elect these Members of Parliament.
Australia
The Proportional Representation Society of Australia generally
advocate
Single Transferable
Vote and
Proportional
Representation.
Canada
Several national and provincial organizations promote electoral
reform, especially by advocating one form or another of
proportional representation. Several referenda to decide whether or
not to adopt such reform have been held during provincial elections
in the last decade; none has thus far resulted in a change from the
plurality system currently in force. Controversially, the threshold
for adoption of a new voting system has regularly been set at a
"supermajority" (for example, sixty per cent of ballots cast
approving the proposed system in order for the change to be
implemented).
New Zealand
Electoral reform in New
Zealand began in 1986 with the report of the
Royal Commission on the
Electoral System entitled
Towards A Better Democracy.
The Royal Commission recommended that
Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) be
adopted instead of the current
first-past-the-post system. After two
referendums in 1992 and 1993, New Zealand adopted MMP.In 2004, some
local body elections in New Zealand were elected using
Single Transferable Vote instead of
the
block vote.
United Kingdom
There are
a number of groups in the United Kingdom
campaigning for electoral reform including the
Electoral Reform Society,
Make Votes Count
Coalition and Fairshare.
For 19th century reforms, see
The
Reform Bills. Also the
Reform Act
1832, the
Reform Act 1867 and
the
Representation
of the People Act 1884.
United States
In 2002 the United States enacted the
Help America Vote Act significantly
reforming its electoral process. Electoral reform is a continuing
process in the United States motivated by the fear of both
electoral fraud and
disenfranchisement.
See also
References
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