AP Gov Chapter 08 - Electoral Systems

Electoral system

formal rules and procedures for selecting executive or members of legislature

Mandate

Broad support of people to carry out proposed policies

Runoff election

second election in two round system where the top two vote gatherers when no candidate wins the first round

Multimember district system (MMD)

Where two or more representatives are elected for each geographic area/district

Single member district system (SMD)

A geographical area is represented by exactly one person in a legislature

Plurality

Candidate wins the seat even if they don’t win 50% of the votes

first past the post system

election rule in SMD system in which the candidate with plurality wins the seat in the legislature

Proportional representative system (PR)

Representatives chosen nationally and legislature chosen based on % of votes a party receives (if a party wins 30% of the popular vote, they should ideally receive roughly 30% of the legislative seats)

Mixed electoral system

System for electing legislature that includes SMD and PR

Presidents with majority votes tend to have stronger ____ then plurality system

Mandates

The main interest in SMD systems are

representation

Party system

The number of/strength of political parties within a country

one party state

country with only one party is allowed to control the government

dominant party system

A party system in which multiple parties exist, but one party dominates the executive branch and wins most of the seats in the government

two party system

a party system in which only two parties are able to garner enough votes to win an election, although more may compete

Multiparty system

a party system in which more than two parties can win a national election and control the government

catch-all party system

a party that takes ideologically diverse, usually middle of the road, position to capture as many voters as possible

Interest group

an association of individuals or businesses that attempt to influence government

Pluralism

A system in which the state controls interest groups and the ones it wishes to recognize

corporation

a system in which the state controls interest groups and the ones it wishes to recognize

single peak association

an organization that brings together an interest group in a particular sector to influence and negotiate agreements with the government

social movement

a group that has loosely defined organizational structure and speaks major socioeconomic political changes through collective action

grassroots movement

citizens of the local level branding together to advocate for a cause

Mexico party system

legislature mixed

President is plurality system

UK electoral system

SMD First Past the Post

Russia

half the legislature is PR, half SMD

President is two-round system

Nigeria

FPTP

Modified two round system

Iran

SMD and MMD, some seats for nonmuslims

Two round system for both executive and legislature

China

series of local and regional elections

Single-party dominance with no free multiparty competition