Home > 1.3.2.2 Voting procedures > Report on Electoral Systems - Overview of available solutions and selection criteria
 
 
 
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a. Hybrid systems have the main advantage of combining logics which would be incompatible if an attempt were made to implement them without placing them in a ranking order. This is true mainly of the majority principle – which is essential for the investiture function – and of the proportional representation system – which is the most favourable for the representation function. This may also be true of single-member or multi-member constituencies – which favour personal selection – and the closed list – which favours discipline and hence the cohesion of parliamentary groups and parties – or the territorial approach – which favours geographical representation – and the national approach – which favours political/ideological representation. A concrete example of seeking the happy medium by means of combining and prioritising may be found in a proposal made by Alain Lancelot in 1993 to the Association Nationale des Élus Régionaux at the request of its chair, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, for a possible reform of the method of electing French Regional Councils. The proposal, drawn up by Jean- Claude Casanova and Alain Lancelot, was summarised in our report as follows: “So as not to be exposed to accusations of manipulation, the choice of voting method should be based on a number of strong principles, which should be stated and classified by order of importance, since they each have the effect of limiting the others.
1. The regional government must be founded, within the Council, on a stable and clear majority.


2. The identity of the regions must be affirmed through the choice of a regional constituency.


3. Representation of minorities must be ensured.


4. Representation of the various départements likewise.


The third principle corrects the first and the last corrects the second. If these objectives are accepted, one is led to propose a reform of the electoral system along the lines of a majority system and adoption of the region as the electoral constituency in place of the départements, whilst limiting the effects of the majority system through the representation of minorities and ensuring that the départements are fairly represented.”


b. Hybrid systems also have the advantage of evening out changes in representation, selection and the capacity for investiture or sanction. These changes tend, in the long run, to be virtually paralysed by the application of the systems which most favour representation, such aspure proportional representation, and conversely run the risk of becoming somewhat chaotic when first-past-the-post (or majority) systems are implemented in their most radical form, owing to repeatedly alternating victors. Between “sehr langsam” and “allegro vivace”, if not “furioso”, the happy-medium tempo “bien tempéré” attracts those who believe that controlled change lies at the heart of good democratic governance.