A majoritarian electoral system is a general type of electoral system based on the principle of majority and one winner when determining voting results. The main goal of the majority system is to determine the winner and a cohesive majority capable of pursuing a succession policy. Votes cast for losing candidates simply don't count. The majority system is used in 83 countries of the world: USA, UK, Japan, Canada.
There are 3 types of majority system:
Majoritarian system of absolute majority;
Majoritarian system of simple (relative) majority;
Qualified Majority Majority System.
Majoritarian system of absolute majority- a method of determining the results of voting, in which an absolute majority of votes (50% + 1) is required to obtain a mandate, i.e. a number exceeding by at least one vote half the number of voters in the given constituency (usually the number of those who voted). The advantage of this system lies in the ease of determining the results, and also in the fact that the winner really represents the absolute majority of voters. Disadvantage - there is the possibility of the absence of an absolute majority, and hence the winner, which leads to a second vote until an absolute majority is collected Majoritarian system of relative majority- a method of determining the results of voting, in which it is required to collect a simple or relative majority of votes, i.e. more than opponents. The advantage of this system is the obligatory presence of the result. The disadvantage is a significant degree of unaccounted for votes.
Qualified Majority Majoritarian System- this is a method of determining the results of voting, in which a candidate must collect a clearly defined number of votes in order to win, always more than half of the voters living in the district (2/3, ¾, etc.). Due to the complexity of the implementation, this system is not used today.
proportional electoral system
A proportional electoral system is a method of determining the results of voting, which is based on the principle of distributing seats in elected bodies in proportion to the number of votes received by each party or list of candidates.
Distinctive features of the proportional system:
ü Strict correspondence between the number of votes in elections and representation in parliament.
ü Emphasis on the representation of various groups of the population in government bodies.
ü Presence of multi-member constituencies.
ü Fair character, because there are no losers or lost votes.
There are 2 main types of proportional system:
Proportional party list system
Proportional party list system. Its peculiarity lies in the presence of multi-member constituencies (the entire territory of the state can act as a constituency) and the formation of party lists as a way to nominate candidates. As a result, electoral competitors are not individual candidates, but political parties. Voters, on the other hand, vote for the party, i.e. for her party list and all at once, despite the fact that it was created without their participation. The mandates are distributed among the parties in accordance with the total number of votes received in the entire constituency. Technically, the mechanism for the distribution of mandates is as follows: the sum of votes cast for all parties is divided by the number of seats in parliament. The result obtained is a "selective meter", i.e. the number of votes required to win one seat in Parliament. How many times this meter will meet the number of votes received by the party, so many seats it will receive in parliament. In order to prevent extremist parties from entering parliament, as well as to avoid party fragmentation and inefficient parliamentary activity, a percentage threshold is set. The parties that overcome it are admitted to the distribution of seats, the rest are excluded. In Ukraine, the barrier is 4%, in Russia - 5%, in Turkey - 10%.
Proportional voting system(Ireland, Australia). Unlike the party list system, where voting is carried out for parties, this system allows the voter to choose among the candidates from the party he supports. Candidates who receive a sufficient number of votes are declared elected; the extra votes cast for them are transferred to the candidates with the shortest votes. Such a system is fair to voters, taking into account the opinion of all.
Mixed electoral system
One of the options for the electoral system is a mixed electoral system, which is designed to neutralize the shortcomings and enhance the advantages of both systems. This system is characterized by the combination of elements of proportional and majority systems. As a rule, there are 2 types of mixed systems:
A mixed system of a structural type - involves a bicameral parliament, where one chamber (consisting of representatives of administrative-territorial units) is elected by the majority system, and the second (lower) - by the proportional system.
A mixed system of a linear type - a unicameral parliament is possible, where some of the deputies are elected by a majority system, and the rest by a proportional one.
On the one hand, they provide an opportunity for people with political ambitions and organizational skills to be elected to government bodies, and on the other hand, they involve the general public in political life and allow ordinary citizens to influence political decisions.
electoral system in a broad sense, they call the system of social relations associated with the formation of elected bodies of power.
The electoral system includes two main elements:
- theoretical (suffrage);
- practical (selective process).
Suffrage is the right of citizens to directly participate in the formation of elected institutions of power, i.e. elect and be elected. Electoral law is also understood as the legal norms governing the procedure for granting citizens the right to participate in elections and the method of forming government bodies. The foundations of modern Russian electoral law are enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
Electoral process is a set of measures for the preparation and conduct of elections. It includes, on the one hand, the election campaigns of candidates, and on the other hand, the work of election commissions to form an elected body of power.
The electoral process has the following components:
- appointment of elections;
- organization of electoral districts, districts, sections;
- formation of election commissions;
- voter registration;
- nomination and registration of candidates;
- preparation of ballots and absentee ballots;
- election campaign; about holding a vote;
- counting of votes and determination of voting results.
Principles of Democratic Elections
In order to ensure the fairness and effectiveness of the electoral system, the procedure for conducting elections must be democratic.
Democratic principles of organizing and conducting elections are as follows:
- universality - all adult citizens have the right to participate in elections, regardless of their gender, race, nationality, religion, property status, etc.;
- equality of votes of citizens: each voter has one vote;
- direct and secret ballot;
- availability of alternative candidates, competitiveness of elections;
- publicity of the elections;
- truthful information of voters;
- lack of administrative, economic and political pressure;
- equality of opportunity for political parties and candidates;
- voluntariness of participation in elections;
- legal response to any cases of violation of the electoral law;
- frequency and regularity of elections.
Features of the electoral system of the Russian Federation
In the Russian Federation, the established electoral system regulates the procedure for holding elections for the head of state, deputies of the State Duma and regional authorities.
Candidate for the post President of the Russian Federation may be a citizen of Russia at least 35 years old, living in Russia for at least 10 years. A candidate cannot be a person who has a foreign citizenship or has a visible residence, an unexpunged and outstanding conviction. The same person cannot hold the office of the President of the Russian Federation for more than two terms in a row. The President is elected for six years on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage by secret ballot. Presidential elections are held on a majoritarian basis. The President is considered elected if in the first round of voting for one of the candidates the majority of voters who took part in the voting voted. If this does not happen, a second round is appointed, in which the two candidates who received the largest number of votes in the first round participate, and the one who received more votes of the voters who took part in the voting than the other registered candidate wins.
Deputy of the State Duma a citizen of the Russian Federation who has reached the age of 21 and has the right to participate in elections has been elected. 450 deputies are elected to the State Duma from party lists on a proportional basis. In order to overcome the electoral threshold and receive mandates, a party must gain a certain percentage of the votes. The term of office of the State Duma is five years.
Citizens of Russia also participate in elections to state bodies and elected positions in subjects of the Russian Federation. According to the Constitution of the Russian Federation. the system of regional state authorities is established by the subjects of the Federation independently in accordance with the fundamentals of the constitutional order and the current legislation. The law establishes special days for voting in elections to state authorities of the constituent entities of the Federation and local governments - the second Sunday in March and the second Sunday in October.
Types of electoral systems
Under the electoral system in the narrow sense is understood the procedure for determining the results of voting, which depends mainly on the principle vote counting.
On this basis, there are three main types of electoral systems:
- majoritarian;
- proportional;
- mixed.
Majoritarian electoral system
In conditions majoritarian system (from fr. majorite - majority) wins the candidate who received the majority of votes. Majority can be absolute (if a candidate receives more than half of the votes) and relative (if one candidate receives more votes than another). The disadvantage of the majoritarian system is that it can reduce the chances of small parties to gain representation in government.
The majoritarian system means that in order to be elected, a candidate or party must receive a majority of the votes of the voters of the district or the whole country, while those who have collected a minority of votes do not receive mandates. Majoritarian electoral systems are divided into absolute majority systems, which are more commonly used in presidential elections and in which the winner must receive more than half of the votes (minimum - 50% of the votes plus one vote), and relative majority systems (UK, Canada, USA, France, Japan and etc.), when it is necessary to get ahead of other contenders to win. When applying the absolute majority principle, if no candidate receives more than half of the votes, a second round of elections is held, in which the two candidates who receive the largest number of votes are presented (sometimes all candidates who receive more than the established minimum number of votes in the first round are admitted to the second round). ).
proportional electoral system
proportional The electoral system involves the voting of voters according to party lists. After the elections, each of the parties receives a number of mandates proportional to the percentage of votes gained (for example, a party that receives 25% of the votes gets 1/4 of the seats). In parliamentary elections, it is usually established percentage barrier(electoral threshold) that a party needs to overcome in order to get their candidates into parliament; as a result, small parties that do not have broad social support do not receive mandates. The votes for the parties that did not overcome the threshold are distributed among the parties that won the elections. A proportional system is possible only in multi-mandate constituencies, i.e. where several deputies are elected and the voter votes for each of them personally.
The essence of the proportional system is in the distribution of mandates in proportion to the number of votes received or by electoral coalitions. The main advantage of this system is the representation of parties in elected bodies in accordance with their real popularity among voters, which makes it possible to more fully express the interests of all groups, to intensify the participation of citizens in elections and in general. In order to overcome excessive party fragmentation of the parliament, to limit the possibility of penetration into it by representatives of radical or even extremist forces, many countries use protective barriers, or thresholds that establish the minimum number of votes necessary to obtain deputy mandates. Usually it ranges from 2 (Denmark) to 5% (Germany) of all votes cast. Parties that do not collect the required minimum of votes do not receive a single mandate.
Comparative analysis of proportional and electoral systems
Majority an electoral system in which the candidate with the most votes wins contributes to the formation of a bipartisan or "bloc" party system, while proportional, under which parties with the support of only 2-3% of voters can get their candidates into parliament, reinforces the fragmentation and fragmentation of political forces, the preservation of many small parties, including extremist ones.
Bipartism assumes the presence of two large, approximately equal in influence political parties, which alternately replace each other in power by winning a majority of seats in parliament, elected by direct universal suffrage.
Mixed electoral system
Currently, many countries use mixed systems that combine elements of the majoritarian and proportional electoral systems. Thus, in Germany, one half of the deputies of the Bundestag are elected according to the majoritarian system of relative majority, the second - according to the proportional system. A similar system was used in Russia in the elections to the State Duma in 1993 and 1995.
mixed the system involves a combination of majoritarian and proportional systems; for example, one part of the parliament is elected by the majority system, and the second - by the proportional system; in this case, the voter receives two ballots and casts one vote for the party list, and the second for a specific candidate elected on a majoritarian basis.
In recent decades, some organizations (, green parties, etc.) use consensual electoral system. It has a positive orientation, that is, it is not focused on criticizing the opponent, but on finding the most acceptable candidate or electoral platform for all. In practice, this is expressed in the fact that the voter votes not for one, but for all (necessarily more than two) candidates and ranks their list in order of their own preferences. Five points are given for first place, four for second, three for third, two for fourth, and one for fifth. After voting, the points received are summed up, and the winner is determined by their number.
Used today in countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia, India, France, the majoritarian system is historically the first electoral system in which the one for whom the majority of votes was cast is considered elected, and the votes cast for the remaining candidates are lost. It was with her that parliamentary elections began.
The majoritarian system based on the principle of the majority operates mainly in single-mandate (uninominal) constituencies, but it is also possible to use them in many mandated (polynomial) constituencies, then voting takes place according to party lists as a whole.
In countries with long democratic traditions, political life has long been monopolized by political parties, whose representatives basically only run for elections and then form the corresponding party factions in parliament or other representative body that act in an organized manner. In those countries where the party system is still in its infancy, and the emerging political parties do not have much authority in society, majoritarian elections create a poorly organized chamber. More chances for election are people who can speak well, ignite the masses with attractive slogans, but are far from always capable of thorough, albeit routine, legislative work, in which demonstration of their own personality is absolutely not required. Earlier in our country, this was observed in the examples of congresses of people's deputies, which sometimes made decisions dictated by emotions from the hysterical speeches of individual deputies.
The legislation of a particular state determines, depending on the type of elections (presidential, parliamentary or local), what kind of majority of votes must be obtained - relative or absolute. In accordance with this, a majority system of a relative majority and a majority system of an absolute majority are distinguished.
The simplest variation is the plurality system, in which the candidate who receives more votes than any of the other candidates is considered elected. Such a system is used, for example, in parliamentary elections in the United States, Great Britain, India, partly in Germany and partly, as you know, in Russia. It is often used in local elections.
In practice, the more candidates running for one seat, the fewer votes required to be elected. If there are more than two dozen candidates, a candidate with 10 percent of the votes or even less may be elected. In addition, the legislation of a number of countries where this system is applied does not provide for the mandatory participation of voters in the voting, nor the minimum participation rate required for the election to be valid.1 In the UK, for example, if one candidate is nominated in the constituency, he is considered elected without a vote, for it is enough for him to vote for himself. And since under this system a significant part of the votes, namely the votes cast for unelected candidates, disappears, it sometimes turns out that the party whose candidates in the country were supported by the majority of voters receives a minority of seats in the chamber of parliament. In France, the majority parties, collecting less than 50% of all the popular vote, had almost 75% of the seats in Parliament.
It should be noted, however, that the electoral laws of some countries establish the minimum number of votes that must be collected in order to win: a candidate is considered elected if he received more votes in his constituency than his competitors, but on condition that more than 20% of all valid votes.
Perhaps the only advantage of the majority system of the relative majority is that the voting is carried out in one round, since the winner is determined immediately. This greatly reduces the cost of elections.
The majority system of an absolute majority looks somewhat more fair. Under this system, elections are usually held in several rounds. To be elected, a candidate must win an absolute majority of the votes of the voters who took part in the voting, i.e. 50% + 1 vote. If no candidate achieves this majority (and most often this is the case), a second round is held (usually two weeks after the first), where the same requirement of an absolute majority of votes is again applied. But the legislation may establish for the second round and the requirement of a relative majority. Not all registered candidates can participate in the second round. A so-called re-ballot is carried out: only two candidates who receive the largest number of votes in the first round in comparison with other candidates are allowed to the second round.
Under this system, a lower threshold for voter participation is usually set; if it is not reached, the elections are considered invalid or failed. It may be half of the registered voters, but not rarely less. In the case when it is equal to half of the registered voters, the absolute majority of the total number of votes cast can theoretically amount to 25% + 1 of the legal electoral corps. If an absolute majority of valid votes is required for election, then the share of the total number of registered voters may be even smaller. The French Electoral Code, in relation to the elections of deputies of the National Assembly, establishes the aforementioned lower threshold not directly as such, not as a condition for the validity of elections, but somewhat differently:
No one can be elected in the first round unless he has received
- 1) an absolute majority of the votes cast;
- 2) the number of votes equal to one fourth of the number of all those entered in the list of voters. In the event of an equality of votes, the eldest candidate shall be deemed elected.
The advantage of this system in comparison with the system of relative majority is that candidates are considered elected who are supported by a valid majority of voters, even if this majority is one vote. But the same defect remains, which is the main one in the system of relative majority: the votes cast against the winning candidates disappear. When, for example, a president is elected whose constituency is the entire country, it does not matter. But when a country, as is the case in parliamentary elections, is divided into many electoral districts, in each of which a separate deputy is elected and the results of the elections are determined separately, again it may turn out that the party that received the most votes in the country receives a minority of seats. A striking example in this regard was provided by the French elections of 1958, when the French Communist Party, having collected the largest number of votes in the first round (18.9%), eventually received only 10 seats in the National Assembly, while the Union for a New Republic, having collected in the first round, fewer votes - 17.6%, received 1888 seats, that is, 19 times more!
The majority system, which is called the majority system, is the most common in elections. Under this system, those candidates who receive the established majority of votes are considered elected. This system is the only one possible with the election of one official (president, governor, etc.). When it is used for elections of a collegial body of power, for example, the House of Parliament, single-member constituencies are usually created, that is, one deputy must be elected in each of them. The majority system has several varieties, due to different requirements for the size of the majority of votes necessary for election.
The majority system of relative majority is the simplest system. “Under this system, it is enough for the winner to collect more votes than any other applicant, but not necessarily more than half” Constitutional law of foreign countries. It is effective: the only case where there can be no result is when two or more candidates receive the same maximum number of votes. Such cases are quite rare, and the legislative resolution of the situation usually happens by lot. Such a system is used, for example, in parliamentary elections in the United States, Great Britain, India, partly in Germany and partly, as you know, in Russia.
In practice, the more candidates running for one seat, the fewer votes required to be elected. If there are more than two dozen candidates, candidates with 10 percent of the votes or even less may be elected. Under this system, there is usually no mandatory minimum participation of voters in voting: if at least one voted, the elections are valid. If one candidate is nominated for a seat, he is considered elected without a vote, because it is enough that at least one voter voted for him (even if he himself turns out to be such a single voter).
However, the majoritarian system of the relative majority is extremely unfair in relation to political parties, especially medium and small ones in terms of their influence. The mandate goes to the candidate who receives a relative majority of the votes, while there could be more votes against him than for him. This means that he was elected by an absolute minority of voters, although by a relative majority. The bottom line is that the votes cast against the winning candidate have disappeared altogether. And on a national scale, this can lead to the fact that the party for which the majority of voters votes receives a minority of seats in parliament. With these defects, the system has its supporters because it usually provides the winning party with an absolute, and sometimes a significant majority in parliament, allowing the formation of a stable government under parliamentary and mixed forms of government. In multi-member constituencies in which lists of candidates compete, the significance of these defects in the system increases many times over.
Majoritarian system of absolute majority - this system differs from the majoritarian system of relative majority in that a candidate is considered to have won the election if he received an absolute majority of the votes, i.e. 50% of the total number of votes cast plus at least one other vote. At the same time, a lower threshold for the participation of voters in voting is set: if it is not reached, the elections are considered invalid or failed. He most often makes up half of the registered voters, but not rarely less. In the case when it is equal to half of the registered voters, the absolute majority of the total number of votes cast can theoretically amount to 25% + 1 of the legal electoral corps. If an absolute majority of valid votes is required for election, then the share of the total number of registered voters may be even smaller.
Although this system looks more fair, nevertheless, it still has the same defect as the majority system of the relative majority, i.e. it is quite possible that under this system, the party whose candidates in the country collected the majority of votes will receive a minority of parliamentary mandates. This can happen if the voters voting for such a party are concentrated in a small number of constituencies, and the voters of the "minority party", on the contrary, will achieve even an insignificant advantage in the majority of constituencies. After all, after the bar of 50 percent + 1 vote is taken, the candidate who received the absolute majority does not need any additional votes.
The majoritarian system of the absolute majority has its own specific defect - frequent inefficiency, and it is all the more likely, the more competition among candidates. This danger is increased if the required absolute majority is calculated from the total number of votes cast: even with two candidates in a single-member district, it may turn out that neither gets an absolute majority if some part of the voters voted against both candidates, or cast invalid votes. If the absolute majority is counted from the total number of valid votes, then only the voting of a part of voters against both candidates can lead to such a result. Of course, provided that the established minimum of voters took part in the voting; otherwise, the election is void regardless of all other circumstances.
There are various ways to overcome this inefficiency.
Re-election of candidates who have collected a certain share of the vote. This is the second round of elections or repeated elections. It is more common to see a re-election of the two candidates who received the largest number of votes in the first round. But at the same time, in the elections to the French National Assembly, all candidates who received at least 12.5 percent of the registered voters in the district in the first round go to the second round.
For election in the second round, only a relative majority of votes is sufficient, and therefore such a system is called a two-round system. If, however, an absolute majority of votes is also required in the second round, as, for example, in Germany during the election of the Federal President by a special collegium - the Federal Assembly, and a relative majority is sufficient only in the third round, then the system is called the three-round system.
Alternative voting. It assumes that a voter in a single-mandate constituency votes not for one candidate, but for several, indicating with numbers against their names their preference for him. Against the name of the most desirable candidate, he puts the number 1, against the name of the next most preferred candidate (that is, whom he would like to see elected if the first one does not pass) - the number 2, and so on. When counting the votes, the ballots are sorted according to the first preferences. The candidate who receives more than half of the first preferences is considered elected. If none of the candidates is elected, the candidate with the fewest first preferences is excluded from the distribution, and his ballots are transferred to other candidates in accordance with the second preferences indicated in them. If after that no candidate has an absolute majority of ballots, the candidate with the fewest first and second preferences is eliminated, and the process continues until one of the candidates has an absolute majority of ballots. The advantage of this method is that you can get by with a single vote. It is used, for example, in the elections of the lower house of Parliament in Australia. Theorists, however, doubt how justified it is to equate the second and even more so the third preference with the first.
from fr. majoritee - majority) - an election system in which candidates who receive a majority of the votes in the constituency where they are running are considered elected. There are M.i.s. absolute, relative and qualified majority (the latter is rarely used). In the first case, it is enough to get more than half of all votes, in the second - a majority relative to all other candidates, in the third - a majority exceeding half of the votes - 2/3, 3/4, etc. M.i.s. often combined with a proportional electoral system (for example, in the Russian Federation, one half of the composition of the State Duma is elected according to the MIS of the relative majority, and the other half according to the proportional system).
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MAJORITY ELECTORAL SYSTEM
from the French "majorite" - majority) - a system for determining the results of elections, according to which a candidate in an electoral district is considered elected if he receives the majority of votes established by law. M.i.s. is the most used in the formation of parliaments. According to M.i.s. legislatures are formed in the USA, France, England and other countries. In 1917, the Constituent Assembly in Russia was elected on the basis of M.i.s. All people's deputies of the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR were elected by the majority principle in 1990.
According to M.i.s. elections of half of the deputies of the State Duma of the first and second convocations were held. When developing a new law on the election of deputies to the State Duma of the third convocation, the President of the Russian Federation insisted that deputies be elected exclusively in single-member districts. However, the legislator did not agree with this approach, preferring the existing situation. At present, the majority of subjects of the Russian Federation use MIS, while few of them prefer a mixed electoral system. M.i.s. It is also used mainly in the elections of representative bodies of local self-government.
Dignity M.i.s. in its effectiveness (elections in all cases end in the victory of one of the candidates), personification, i.e. each deputy is elected in his personal capacity (the voter does not vote for the list of candidates, but for a specific candidate), in direct connection between the elected deputy and the voters (which makes it possible for the deputy to be elected in the next election). The disadvantages include the low representativeness, or representativeness, of the winning deputy, the loss of votes of voters who voted for the losing candidate. It turns out that the more candidates are nominated in the elections, the fewer votes the winner needs to get. The proportional electoral system is free from these shortcomings.
There are M.i.s. absolute and relative majority. In addition, the so-called M.i.s. qualified majority.
According to the majoritarian electoral system of an absolute majority, a candidate is considered elected for whom an absolute number of votes (50% + 1) is given. Such a system for determining the results of elections is used during the elections of the President of the Russian Federation. In accordance with the Federal Law of December 31, 1999 "On the Election of the President of the Russian Federation" (Article 72), a candidate for the position of President of the Russian Federation who received more than half of the votes of the voters who took part in the voting is considered elected. The number of voters who took part in the voting is determined by the number of ballot papers found in the ballot boxes. Under a qualified majority majoritarian electoral system, a fixed or certain number of votes (25%, 30%, 2/3 of the votes of voters participating in the elections) must be won in elections.
The majority electoral system of relative majority is a method of voting when the candidate who receives more votes than each of the competing candidates is considered elected. In accordance with the Federal Law of June 24, 1999 "On Elections of Deputies of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation" (Article 79), the candidate who received the largest number of votes of the voters who took part in the voting is recognized elected in a single-mandate constituency. In case of an equal number of votes received by the candidates, the candidate registered earlier is considered elected. With M.i.s. absolute and qualified majority voting is carried out in two rounds, and with M.i.s. relative majority - in one round.
M.i.s. has its own varieties and consists of the following. The territory of a state or a representative body is divided into territorial units - more often one is elected from each, but sometimes two or more deputies. Each candidate is nominated and elected in his personal capacity, although it may be indicated which party, movement he represents. If, in order to win, a candidate needs to gain not only a majority of votes, but also at least half of the number of voters who took part in the vote, then in this case it is customary to speak of M.I.S. absolute majority. If a candidate is considered the winner who has received more votes than his rivals (i.e., a majority "relative" to his competitors), and it does not matter how much this amounts to from the number of voters who voted, such a system is usually called M.i.s. relative majority. If a certain number of votes is required to win (for example, 25, 30, 40% of the number of voters participating in the elections), this is M.i.s. qualified majority.
Voting by M.i.s. the relative majority is held in one, for other varieties - in two rounds. The two candidates with the highest number of votes advance to the second round, and the winner may be the one who has received a certain number of votes or more votes than the opponent.
Pluses M.i.s. in that it is effective - it gives a winner; in addition, voting is subject - the voter gives preference to a particular person; deputies must maintain constant contact with voters, hoping for their support in the next elections. Lack of M.i.s. in that votes cast for non-winning candidates are lost, and the winner in this case has the support of a sometimes clear minority of voters, i.e. we can talk about the low representativeness (representativeness) of such a deputy.
In the Russian Federation, for elections to the State Duma, since 1993, the principle of combining proportional and M.i.s. At the same time, M.i.s. looks like this: it is established that 225 (i.e. half) of the deputies of the State Duma are elected on the basis of M.i.s. for single-member (one constituency - one mandate) constituencies formed in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation on the basis of a single representation norm, with the exception of electoral districts formed in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, the number of voters in which is less than the average number of voters established by the CEC for a single-mandate constituency (see para. Constituency). To win in the district, you need to get more votes than other candidates, i.е. this is M.i.s. relative majority. Elections are considered valid if at least 25% of registered voters voted.
According to M.i.s. elections of half of the deputies of the State Duma were held in 1993 and 1995. It may be recalled that in 1993 deputies were also elected to the Federation Council - two from each subject of the Russian Federation. M.i.s. was used. a relative majority, with the difference that the constituency had two mandates; the constituency was the territory of each subject of the Russian Federation. As for the elections of representative bodies of power of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, in 1993 they were given the opportunity to introduce both majoritarian and mixed majoritarian-proportional systems. However, in all constituent entities of the Russian Federation, elections of bodies of representative power are held in constituencies. Some constituent entities simultaneously formed two types of such constituencies: ordinary (in terms of the number of voters) and administrative-territorial (i.e., a district or city, respectively, became a district, and a deputy was elected from it to the parliament of a subject of the Russian Federation). In elections to representative bodies of local self-government (i.e., assemblies, dumas of cities and regions), deputies are elected according to M.i.s. At the same time, quite often the entire territory is a single multi-member constituency. However, each deputy is elected in his personal capacity, which is exactly what is typical for M.i.s.
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