The election system used to select Afghanistan’s Wolesi Jirga (lower house of parliament) has radically shaped the realms of democratic stability and political legitimacy since its introduction for the elections of 2005. Afghanistan uses the Single Non-Transferable Vote (SNTV) in 34 provincial-level, multi-member constituencies with a special affirmative action (quota) mechanism for women. The ...

The Austrian election held on 29 September 2013 resulted in all-time lows for both major traditional parties, the SPÖ and ÖVP, but they nevertheless secured their combined majority by a tiny margin. Whereas the populist radical right FPÖ was supported by every fifth voter, its split-off, the BZÖ, lost parliamentary representation. The Greens achieved moderate gains and two new parties entered p...

The article concerns a potential change in the method of electing President Republic Poland, consisting abandoning universal and direct elections force since 1990 introducing using an extended parliament. study verifies hypothesis that forms president with participation parliament are present Polish tradition. second research assumption relates to relationship between constitutional role head s...

Covid-19 restrictions were lifted in 2021, leaving more room for policy initiatives from the government, which delivered throughout year on, example, climate, housing, transport and decentralization. Regional/municipal elections showed that Danish party system was still characterized by a stable core, even though some change happened. Prominent members of parliament have left Liberals. New part...

Today quotas are being introduced in countries where women only constitute a small minority in parliament, and the world is witnessing historical transformations in women‘s representation, for example from 19 per cent women in parliament to 35 in one election (Costa Rica) or 36 per cent women in the very first democratic parliamentary election (South Africa). Such great historical fundamental c...

As in 1999 and 2003, the 2007 elections for Scottish local councils were held on the same day (May 3 rd ) as the Scottish Parliament elections. This was despite the fact that in the interim the Arbuthnott Commission, set up to report on elections in Scotland, had firmly recommended the ‘decoupling’ of the two sets of elections (Commission on Boundary Differences and Voting Systems, 2006, pp. 48...

Dissenting votes in parliamentary systems are overt displays of defiance by individual Members of Parliament (MPs) vis-à-vis their parties. Dissension is particularly surprising as in the vast majority of situations voting against one's party yields no change in legislative outcomes while still generating costs for MPs. This study examines the decisions of elected representatives who face confl...

A major step forward along the path towards the implementation of secure Internet voting in Spain was taken in November 2003. For the first time in this country, a non-binding remote electronic voting pilot was run in parallel to a public election, in particular the 2003 election to the Parliament of Catalonia. The e-voting pilot was also the first of this kind to gain the requisite approval by...