Electoral Contestability

Publications / 31.5.10
Electoral Contestability

Electoral contestability refers to the level of competition that political parties need to confront to emerge in the political arena and in the decision-taking process within the Governing bodies of their circumscriptions. To put it in bluntly, it refers to how votes in an election are translated into seats in the parliament, and how this links with distribution of power among political actors.

Simon Toubeau studies the electoral systems of 8 EU Member States at local, regional, central and european level: In the study we can see which are the burdens political parties must face in order to be elegible for the elections, and to gain seats in the chambers. It appears that smaller parties have much more difficulties than biger ones.

It is an interesting work to take into account when developing further electoral reform in Europe.