Unit VI elections

“Nothing is more difficult, and therefore more precious, than the right to decide”

Napoleon Bonaparte

Elections

Topical words:

general elections;

to hold elections;

political choice;

ballot;

electorate;

to vote for (against);

to convene;

convention;

to inaugurate;

poll;

polling;

to register;

eligible;

to enrol;

majority;

simple majority system;

plurality

to cast a vote;

indirect election;

plurality formula;

majority formula;

proportional

representation;

accomplishment;

alternative;

suffrage;

genuine elections;

to win by a small

(narrow) margin.

Election is the formal process of selecting a person for public office or accepting or rejecting a political proposition, by voting. The widespread use of elections in the modern world has its origins in the gradual emergence of representative government in Europe and North America since the 17th century.

Elections are the means by which the people in a society make political choices by voting for competing candidates or parties. They are used both in the selection of leaders and in the determination of issues. The concept of elections implies that the voters are presented with alternatives and can choose among a number of proposals designed to settle an issue of public concern. The presence of alternatives is a necessary condition.

In representative democracies, periodic and regularly scheduled elections serve not only to select leaders but also to hold those leaders accountable for their performance in office. Such elections force candidates or parties to expose their record of accomplishment and future intentions to public scrutiny in election campaigns and thus serve as forums for the discussion of public issues and permit an exchange of influence between the governors and the governed. By mobilizing voters in a common act of governance, elections lend authority and legitimacy to the acts of those who wield power in the name of the people.

There are various systems of counting individual votes and totalling them into collective decisions. The simplest means of deciding an election is the plurality rule, in which a candidate can win an election merely by polling more votes than any other single opponent. Under the majority rule, the party or candidate winning more than 50 percent of the votes is awarded the contested seat or office; he thus must poll more votes than the combined opposition.

A third system, proportional representation, is designed to allow the voters to rank competing candidates (or parties) in order of preference.

In modern voting practices secret voting is used to discourage undue influence and pressure on voters, such as the use of bribery, intimidation, coercion, and punishment. Secret voting is chiefly achieved through the use of ballots, or sheets of paper containing the names of the various candidates or their parties; the voter indicates his preferences by marking the ballot in some way while out of public view, and then placing the ballot in a receptacle with many others. These ballots may be counted or tallied by hand, but the trend is toward the automated or computerized tabulation of them.