Content Authored by Sara Helmi
1 - 10 of 10 results
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Winner-Take-All Elections Exacerbate Kenya's Ethnic Tensions
- Posted: May 2, 2013
- Author(s): Andrew Douglas, Sara Helmi
- Categories: Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Middle East and Africa, International Elections, Home, Elections Worldwide
Kenya's use of winner-take-all elections provides few incentives for inter-ethnic cooperation. Proportional representation could help bridge the country's ethnic divides.
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Japan's Electoral Unfairness Goes Deeper than Malapportionment
- Posted: April 8, 2013
- Author(s): Sara Helmi, Devin McCarthy
- Categories: Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Asia and Oceania, Home, Elections Worldwide, Districts Plus
Several of Japan's high courts have called the 2012 election unconstitutional because of malapportionment. But the continued use of winner-take-all elections is the deeper cause of Japan's distorted electoral outcomes.
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Italian Elections Expose Non-Proportional and Ineffective Voting System
- Posted: February 28, 2013
- Author(s): Sara Helmi, Devin McCarthy
- Categories: Europe, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, International Elections, Home, Elections Worldwide
In the aftermath of Italy's general election on February 25-26, outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti asserted that "no country has such a bad electoral law as Italy." That may be an exaggeration, but there was plenty to be dissatisfied with in the election results.
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Czech Republic Holds First Popular Election for President
- Posted: January 30, 2013
- Author(s): Sara Helmi, Devin McCarthy
- Categories: Europe, International Elections, Elections Worldwide
On January 26, Czech citizens had the chance to directly elect their president for the first time since the breakup of Czechoslovakia in 1993. They used a national popular vote with a majority runoff to do it.
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Putin Orders Return to Parallel Electoral System for Russian Duma
- Posted: January 7, 2013
- Author(s): Sara Helmi, Devin McCarthy
- Categories: Europe, International Elections, Home, Elections Worldwide
Do not be fooled by Vladimir Putin's claims that the reintroduction of single-member, winner-take-all seats to the Russian Duma will be a step towards a fairer and freer democracy in Russia. It is instead a step towards the continuation of one-party rule.
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Ukrainian Elections Are Another Example of Partisan Bias Caused by Winner-Take-All
- Posted: November 26, 2012
- Author(s): Sara Helmi, Devin McCarthy
- Categories: Europe, Home, International Elections, Elections Worldwide
Think the U.S. House elections had a structural bias in favor of one party? The partisan bias in Ukraine's parliamentary elections, held just a week before the American elections, was even worse.
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France May Introduce a Little Bit of Proportional Representation to its Legislative Elections
- Posted: November 12, 2012
- Author(s): Sara Helmi, Devin McCarthy
- Categories: Europe, Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, International Elections, Home
Proportional representation may be coming to the French legislature--or at least 10% of it.
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Putin's United Russia Wins Resounding Victories in Local Elections
- Posted: October 18, 2012
- Author(s): Sara Helmi, Devin McCarthy
- Categories: Ranked Choice Voting, Europe, International Elections, Home, Elections Worldwide
As the results of Russia's October 14 local elections show, the rumors of United Russia's death have been greatly exaggerated. But did Vladimir Putin's party manipulate Russia's electoral laws to keep power?
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Opposition Parties Win First Round of Lithuanian Elections
- Posted: October 17, 2012
- Author(s): Sara Helmi, Devin McCarthy
- Categories: Europe, International Elections, Home, Elections Worldwide
Lithuania's conservative government is likely to be toppled following a defeat in the October 14 national elections. Lithuania uses a combination of open list proportional representation and a winner-take-all runoff system based on geographic constituencies to elect its legislature.
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Major Media Gets it Wrong on Hong Kong Elections
- Posted: September 24, 2012
- Author(s): Sara Helmi, Devin McCarthy
- Categories: Fair Voting/Proportional Representation, Asia and Oceania, International Elections, Home, Elections Worldwide
Hong Kong's pro-democracy parties did not perform as well as expected in the September 9 Legislative Council elections. The New York Times would have you believe that the disappointing result can be blamed on Hong Kong's proportional representation system. But that explanation is misleading and distracts from the real problems of the city's electoral structure.