Authors: Kuper & Kuper
Summary: After defining elections, the entry focuses on the nature and functions of elections. Elections are defined as a device by means of which popular preferences are aggregated to choose officeholders. Elections are now almost inseparable from representative democracy. Electoral systems provide guidelines on such matters as who votes and how, the frequency of elections, how votes are counted, what constitutes victory, who stands for office, and so on.
Elections have several functions. These include designating, either directly or indirectly, the government; providing feedback between voters and the government; demonstrating public support for or repudiation of a regime; providing a means for the recruitment of political leaders; and making the government answerable to the electorate.
The nature of the electoral choice in a state is shaped by three sets of factors. The first is the object of the election, which may be to choose a constituency representative, a party list or a president. The second is the party system, which in turn is shaped by cleavages in society, the electoral system and the maneuvers of elites. The third is the electoral system, particularly those provisions which aggregate votes and translate them into seats (that is, rules for counting and weighing votes). A distinction may be drawn between the absolute majoritarian system, the plurality (first past the post) and proportional representation. The plurality system sacrifices representativeness to attain a clear victor (and thus a stronger governing party); proportional representation makes the opposite tradeoff, furthering the goal of representativeness but making the choice of government less certain.