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9. Presidential and Parliamentary Systems

Not all democracies function the same way. In a Presidential System, voters elect an executive leader (the President) who is separate from the elected legislature (the Parliament/Assembly/Congress). In a Parliamentary System, voters elect a legislative assembly and these officials then choose an executive (a Prime Minister, Chancellor, etc),

Choosing the legislature also differs. Some countries (e.g., the UK, Australia) have a first-past-the-post system, where the party with the most members in parliament forms the new government. Other countries (e.g., nearly all European countries) have a proportional representation system, where seats in parliament are assigned according to how many votes a party won in the election. Each system has its pros and cons. Consider this example:

The Red Party wins 40% of the national vote

The Blue Party wins 35% of the national vote

The Yellow Party wins 25% of the national vote

In this scenario, no party has won an absolute majority (51% or more) of the national vote. Under a first-past-the-post system, the Red Party has won more votes than anyone else, so it forms the new government. This has the advantage of creating a working government for several years, but it does not reflect the actual distribution of votes among the population and can therefore lead to a disgruntled population. Under a proportional representation system, the Red Party has the most members of parliament and can form a government, but if the Blue Party and the Yellow Party form an alliance and promise to work together, they will have more members of parliament than the Red Party. This system has the advantage of better representing the national distribution of votes, but it depends on fragile coalitions between different parties, who don’t all have the same ideas. There is no perfect political system and each option has unique advantages and disadvantages.

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