Page 414 - A READY RECKONER

Brief Profiles of Countries, EMB’s and Partner Organisations of A-WEB
systems are sometimes referred to as two-round
systems.
Preferential voting (PV)
PV a system of voting whereby the voter indicates
his order of preference for each of the candidates
listed on the ballot for a specified office so
that if no candidate receives a majority of first
preferences the first and second preferences and
if necessary third and other preferences may be
counted together until one candidate obtains a
majority.
Optional preferential voting (OPV)
Optional preferential voting (OPV) is a type
of preferential voting system under which
voters indicate the order of their preferences
by numbers. Full-preferential voting requires a
preference to be indicated for each candidate.
Under OPV, voters may choose to mark a
preference for as many candidates as they want.
Although complete numbering is not required
under OPV, single-preference voters may be
required to use a ‘1’ rather than a tick or cross.
Some jurisdictions allow ticks or crosses as the
voter’s intention is clear. Some jurisdictions use
semi-optional preferential voting, in which the
expression of a minimum number of preferences
is required.
Two round system (TRS) List proportional representation (List PR)
The two-round system (also known as the second
ballot, runoff voting or ballotage) is a voting
method used to elect a single winner, where
the voter casts a single vote for their chosen
candidate. Despite its name, the two-round
system may resolve an election in a single round
if one candidate receives enough of the vote,
usually a simple majority. If no candidate receives
enough of the vote in the first round, then a Mixed member proportional (MMP)
second round of voting is held with either just the
top two candidates or all candidates who received
a certain proportion of the votes.
The two-round system is used around the world
for the election of legislative bodies and directly
elected presidents.
PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION (PR) SySTEMS
Proportional representation is the general name
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for a class of voting systems that attempt to
make the percentage of offices awarded to
candidates reflect as closely as possible the
percentage of votes that they received in the
election. It is the most widely used set of electoral
systems in the world, and its variants can be
found at some level of government in almost
every country (including the United States, where
some city councils are elected using forms of PR).
The main features of Proportional Representation
(PR) systems are as follows:
 Based on the assumption that parties are the
real contestants and the principle that their
seat shares should accurately reflect their vote
shares
 Requires multi-member districts (the bigger the
more proportional the final result can be)
 Counting and seat determination processes
are generally complex and not immediately
transparent
 Candidates are elected based on the total
percentage of votes cast for their party.
 Main models include: List; Mixed Member
Proportional; Single Transferable Vote; Single
Non-Transferable Vote; Parallel.
Most PR systems use some form of List PR. List
PR is used in multi-member electorates where
votes are cast in order of preference for the
parties which have registered a list of candidates.
Parties receive seats in proportion to their overall
share of the total vote and winning candidates are
taken from the lists in order of their position.
MMP systems try to combine the elements
of majority and PR systems. A proportion of
the parliament is elected by majority methods,
usually from single-member electorates, while the
remainder come from PR Lists.
Under MMP systems, the List PR seats
compensate for any disproportions produced by
the district seat results. For example, if one party
wins 10% of the national votes but no district
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