Suchergebnisse

Unusual interest attaches to all of the continental elections of recent months—the first to be held after the long postponements caused by the war; but the elections in France derive special importance from the new electoral law of July 12, 1919, under which they were held.After a nine-year contest, the elements which have demanded scrutin de liste, or election on a general departmental ticket, instead of scrutin d'arrondissement, or election by small districts, have come off victorious. Each of the two systems prevailed at various times during the Restoration, the Second Republic, and the Second Empire.

The year 1928 will witness national elections in at least three of the great western democracies of the world. The first of these important electoral contests took place in France on the last two Sundays in April. Following a campaign of unique character, some 8,000,000 voters went to the polls to pass judgment upon the record of M. Poincaré's National Union government—a government headed, strangely enough, by the same man whom the electorate had seemingly repudiated four years earlier. Not only was this contest unusual in that it brought into play certain new kinds of campaign technique, but when carefully analyzed in the light of the operation of the new electoral law, the outcome almost defies any logical interpretation. On the surface, it has been heralded as a great personal triumph for Premier Poincaré as the "savior of the franc." But more than that one cannot say; for he presented his case without the least semblance of a political program, and the party complexion of the newly elected Chamber of Deputies is baffling. Nor is one certain that it faithfully reflects the existing state of public opinion in the nation.A resumé of the provisions of the latest electoral law, enacted in July, 1927, is necessary for a full understanding of what happened at the polls. In France, as all students of politics know, "electoral reform" is a perennial question. Since 1871 five successive systems of voting have been used: to 1885, the scrutin uninominal, or d'arrondissement; from 1885 to 1889, the scrutin de liste; from 1889 to 1919, the scrutin uninominal again; from 1919 to 1927, the scrutin de liste, with partial proportional representation; and now a reversion once more to the old scrutin uninominal.

"First published in 1911." ; --The House of commons as an expression of the national will.--The direct results of majority systems.--The indirect results of majority systems.--The representation of minorities.--The second ballot and the transferable vote in single-member constituencies.--Proportional representation.--The single transferable vote.--List systems of proportional representation.--A comparison of list systems with the single transferable vote.--Proportional representation and party government.--Objections to proportional representation.--The key to electoral and constitutional reform.--Appendices. ; Photocopy. ; Mode of access: Internet.