In democratic societies, parliament is formed through elections, which are the main means of inter-party competition, an arena for ideological clashes.
Instructions
Step 1
Parliament can consist of one or two chambers. So, the division of parliament into upper and lower is in Great Britain (the House of Lords and the House of Commons), in Russia (the Federation Council and the State Duma), in the USA (the Senate and the House of Representatives). The conditions for electing representatives to parliament differ for each chamber. As a rule, the formation process for the upper house is carried out in a less democratic way than for the lower one. The latter is formed at the national elections.
Step 2
In Russia, the upper house of parliament is called the Federation Council. It includes 2 senators from each subject of the federation. One of them represents the legislative branch and the other the executive branch. Representatives must be at least 30 years old, have an impeccable reputation and have lived in the Russian Federation for at least 5 years. They are submitted for approval by the regions, and not directly elected.
Step 3
The rules governing elections to the lower house of parliament are determined by the existing electoral system. It has a direct impact on the party system in the country. There are 4 main types of electoral systems. The majoritarian system assumes that only the party that won the majority of votes (in absolute or relative terms) gets the electoral seats. The advantage of the majoritarian system is that it provides parliamentary representation to each of the constituencies and simplifies the communication of deputies and voters. But it is only beneficial for large parties. The principal role is given to the size of constituencies, which cannot be equalized, which creates certain disparities between the number of votes and representation in parliament.
Step 4
In a proportional system, mandates are distributed among parties in accordance with the proportions of votes. At the same time, the whole country is a single constituency. This makes the proportional system fairer than the majority system. Its disadvantage is that small parties can gain seats in parliament, making it extremely fragmented. Therefore, a certain barrier is introduced - 5%, 7%, 10%.
Step 5
Under a preferential system, voters have the ability to rank candidates on electoral lists. This will be taken into account in the allocation of seats in elected bodies. Such a system is rare. These include Ireland and Malta.
Step 6
In the Russian Federation, deputies of the lower house of parliament are elected on a proportional basis by party lists. Until 2011, the barrier to entry into the State Duma was 7%, and from 2016 it will again reach 5%. Parties that have not overcome the percentage threshold do not get seats in parliament. Since the sixth convocation, the deputies have been elected for a five-year term. Until 2005, the barrier was 5%. Previously, half of the deputies were elected by majoritarian single-mandate constituencies, and the other half - by party lists, i.e. in Russia there was a mixed system.
