En France, the voting system is an act of faith. It is advisable to be for or against the majority ballot; for or against proportional. However, the voting system is neither a value nor a principle. It is an instrument which, like any instrument, is to be considered in terms of its effectiveness. This is also the approach that was that of General de Gaulle, favorable to proportional in 1944 and in the majority ballot in 1958. This is also what led him not to register the latter in the Constitution, so that, noting his ineffective, it is possible to change it by an ordinary law.
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The two -round majority voting system does not necessarily give a majority. In place during almost the whole IIIe Republic, he never gave it in this country before 1962. It only gives it only in period of bipolarization of political life, and at the cost of a strong electoral demobilization between the two towers of the frustrated voters of a choice. Bipolarization now seems to have lived.
When no one has a majority, the two -round majority voting system becomes a factor of instability. The parties are indeed forced by the game of alliances which carried them in the first round, which prevents them from forming majorities by breaking the borders of the blocks. This observation is not linked to our “political culture” which would prevent the formation of coalitions. It is rather the majority voting system with two towers that forges a political culture hostile to a compromise that has become essential: it is not bad in itself, it has simply become unsuitable for the transformation of our political life.
Stimulated participation
Should we then move on to proportional? The latter has advantages. We know in particular that it stimulates participation: 7 points on average, 12 points among young people. It increases adherence to public institutions and policies. One in two voters who voted for one of the member parties of the coalition, against two out of ten in the last legislative polls in France, more citizens feel represented but also in solidarity of the government majority.
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