Elections – What For?

There are three voting systems: majority, proportional and mixed. Voting may be direct (as in the presidential election) or indirect (as in the senatorial election). They may comprise a single round or several rounds:

• Majority systems are the oldest: the winner of the election takes all the seats at stake. This is known as “first past the post”. These elections make it easier to create a stable and coherent majority to govern, at the risk of under-representing minority opinions. They also guarantee a close link between elected representatives and voters. They may be single-member (a single seat to be filled) or multi-member (several seats);
• In proportional representation systems, the seats are distributed between the various candidates in proportion to the votes obtained. Proportional systems developed in the 20th century: Belgium was the first country to introduce proportional representation for its parliamentary elections (1899), followed by Finland (1906), Denmark (1915), the Netherlands (1917) and Germany (1919). These systems ensure better representation of the various currents of opinion, at the risk of complicating the emergence of a governing majority and strengthening the influence of political parties;
• Mixed systems combine the two systems: for the same election, some candidates are elected under the majority system (in small constituencies) and others under the proportional system (in larger constituencies). This is the case, for example, with municipal elections in France: the majority system applies in municipalities with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants, and the proportional system in municipalities with 1,000 inhabitants or more.