ruritanian electoral system

The Ruritanian Electoral System One of the decisions made by the National Committee on Reconciliation (NCR) was the creation of the
National Constituent Assembly as the country's unicameral parliamentary body. A number of other choices then followed. For a brief comparison of parliamentary and presidential systems, click here.

1) frequency of elections
How frequently are elections held for national legislature/ executive?
Compare: RUR vs. US

RUR	US
every 5 years unless...	every 2 years for House every 4 years for President staggered 6 year terms in Senate
there is a "vote of no confidence"	no comparable mechanism

Question to Consider:
What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages
of the idea of a vote of "no confidence"?

2) nature of the electoral district

How many representatives are there in each district?

Compare: RUR vs. US

RUR	US
multimember-- more than one representative per district	single-member-- one representative per district

Ruritania has 11 multimember districts of 9 representatives each. As part of the reconciliation effort to accomodate historic tensions in the old kingdom of Ruritania, the districts created reflect ancient geopolitical divisions within the country. The districts are not equal in terms of the population but each electoral district has 9 (nine) representatives. To learn more about the electoral districts in Ruritania, click here. The representatives from each district are selected using the single, transferrable vote system described below.

Questions to Consider:
Are there examples of this same sort of compromise in the American system? How do these compromises affect the representativeness of each of these (RUR and US) systems?

3) system of representation----- proportional

Within each district the number of representatives is apportioned in relationship to the percentage of votes each party has received as determined by the single transferrable vote system described from the link below.

Compare: RUR vs. US
Contrast this system with the US's single-member district. Which system do you think more accurately reflects the "distribution of sentiment" in an electoral district? What are the other advantage and disadvantages of each system?

4) system of voting----- single transferable vote

In this system excess votes for candidates who have passed the electoral threshhold are
transferred to the voter's next choice.

Compare: RUR vs. US
What are the advantages and disadvantages of this system?
Of the US system of voting?

Ruritanian National Election Commision Reports

1998 Election Summary Table 1999 Election Summary Table

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