Riassunto esame Fundamental rights, Prof. Cossiri Angela Giuseppina, libro consigliato The Constitution of Italy. A Contextual Analysis, Lupo Cartabia

III Lesson - Fundamental rights

Electoral system

An electoral system (or voting system) is the process through which the electorate - those eligible to vote in a particular election - choose who they want to represent them. It is an essential instrument in representative democracy. The electoral system is constituted by a set of rules, that can be both constitutional provisions and ordinary law. Their classification depends on the single country. These rules determine how elections and referendums are conducted and how their results are determined. These rules govern all aspects of the voting process:

• When elections occur, who is allowed to vote, who can stand as a candidate
• How ballots are marked and cast, how the ballots are counted, how votes translate into the election outcome (how the votes are transformed in seats)
• Dimension and type of constituency or districts
• Electoral system in a strict sense (majoritarian or proportional): in Italy, there is a distinction between two kinds of system:
  • The majoritarian system
  • The proportional system
• Limits on campaign spending, and other factors that can affect the result

Electoral system in a strict sense

In Italy, two are the types of electoral system we tend to identify:

• The Majoritarian system
• The Proportional system

Outside Italy, this distinction involves a third type of system:

• Proportional systems refer to a range of voting systems that aim to produce a distribution of representation in the democratic assembly that reflects the way the electorate has voted. In a perfectly proportional system, a party that received 25 percent of the votes would, for example, get 25 percent of the seats.
• Majoritarian or majority systems refer to a voting system in which candidates must receive a majority of votes to be elected, either in a runoff election or final round of voting (although in some cases only a plurality is required in the last round of voting if no candidate can achieve a majority). There are two main forms of majoritarian systems, one conducted in a single election using ranked voting and the other using multiple elections, to successively narrow the field of candidates. Both are primarily used for single-member constituencies: in other words, there is one district and at the end of the process, only one candidate will be elected. The term ranked voting, also known as preferential voting or ranked choice voting, refers to any voting system in which voters rank their candidates or options—in a sequence of first, second, third, and so on—on their respective ballots.
• Plurality voting is a system in which the candidate(s) with the highest number of votes wins, with no requirement to get a majority of votes. In cases where there is a single position to be filled, it is known as first-past-the-post. In Italy, the majority and plurality voting are kept together because at the very end, just one among the candidates is the winner. However, in the majoritarian system, the candidate must get the majority of votes, whereas in the plurality voting, the first is the one who is elected, even though he does not reach the majority.

Voting methods under the majoritarian or plurality system (I)

First-Past-the-Post (FPTP, also referred to as the Single Member Plurality system):

• Each voter can vote for one candidate from the list of candidates standing in their constituency (voting district).
• Plurality voting is a system in which the candidate(s) with the highest number of votes wins, with no requirement to get a majority of votes.
• Instant-runoff voting (IRV), whereby voters rank candidates in order of preference.

Voting methods under the majoritarian or plurality system (II)

The Two-Round System (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian result, not a simple plurality result as under First-past-the-post. Under the two-round election system, the election process usually proceeds to a second round only if in the first round no candidate received a simple majority (more than 50%) of votes cast, or some other lower prescribed percentage. Under the two-round system, usually only the two candidates who received the most votes in the first round proceed to the second round.