Home > 3 Electoral systems > UKRAINE - Opinion on the Draft Law Amending the Law on Election of People's Deputies of Ukraine Presented by People's Deputies Lavrynovych and Portnov
 
 
 
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Paragraph 21
 

This bonus system that resembles a solution used at French regional elections would seem rather unusual for national elections. As the Venice Commission report on electoral systems (overview of available solutions and selection criteria) by Christophe Broquet and Alain Lancelot:

 

“77. Bonuses are mandates granted to the most successful list before the distribution of seats strictly speaking is carried out. They are principally used for local elections. In the French regional elections, a bonus equivalent to one quarter of the seats is given to the list which ends up in the lead in the conclusive round. For elections to the Corsican Assembly, three bonus seats are granted. Likewise, half the seats are granted directly to the leading list in the case of municipal elections in municipalities of more than 3,500 inhabitants. Bonuses can sometimes exist in other forms. For instance, the 1953 Italian Act provided that linked lists obtaining more than 50% of the votes were to receive 64.5% of the seats. Consequently, these bonuses enable government majorities to be conferred on assemblies and hence avoid the necessity of bargaining with extremely minority parties.”[4]

 

Legal assessment of the modifications proposed