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Summary Combined electoral systems were in expansion at the end of the 20th century and thus some authors considered them to be the electoral model for the future. Accordingly, there has been an increasing number of academic attempts to define and conceptualise these complex electoral systems. So far, two major interpretative streams emerged: structural (or mechanical) which is linked with Canadian scholars of election studies A. Blais and L. Massicotte, and the outcome-approach, largely developed by American scholars M.S. Shugart and P.M. Wattenberg. However, there is still much to add to these two interpretations. The author argues that a combined electoral system is specific for its combining of two elements: 1) the elections are based on two different levels of voting and of distribution of seats (name-based and list-based) and 2) they develop a specific model of voting -- with two votes per each voter (one for an individual candidate and the other for a list). When combined, these two elements create institutional setting for electoral competition, and thus the candidates and the parties are requested to develop more complex electoral strategies than in other types of electoral systems. Adapted from the source document.

The private vs public sources utilized in financing electoral campaigns & political parties in various countries are compared, focusing on the situation in Croatia & major Western democracies. A table showing the introduction of public financing of political parties in individual countries in the second half of the 20th century is produced, & the enactment of laws & regulations limiting the amount of donations by individuals & corporations, controlling the raising & spending of funds, & ensuring a transparency in the finances allocated for electoral campaigns is discussed. In the US, political parties & elections are financed largely from private funds, although public matching programs are available & legal mechanisms are in place imposing limits on private donations & regulating their use. Similar processes are at work in Canada, Australia, & some European countries, eg, the Netherlands. In Austria, Italy, Germany, & Sweden, political parties rely mostly on subsidies from the state budget. In the UK, the Labour Party is financed by labor unions, while the Conservative Party by big business. Unlike in the West, the financing of political parties in Croatia remains unregulated. The absence of proper laws & regulations removes the funding of the parties & their electoral campaigns & the ways in which they raise & distribute donations from public scrutiny. 1 Table, 25 References. Adapted from the source document.