Doing Democracy.

 In deference to our second round of elections which will take place on June 25^th, I will explore the concept and working of the democratic system.

 When I first came to Greece I remember being confused on being told, ‘Here we don’t have a royal family – we have democracy’ – as if the two were mutually exclusive. On more than one occasion I have heard the term being expressed to mean “I can do what I like’ – only sometimes is it said in fun!

                                               

 We probably are all aware of the definition of democracy rendered by Abraham Lincoln: ‘Democracy is a government of the people, by the people and for the people.’

 A fellow Facebook-user, Pierakis Kimonos, is credited with this description which I really like: ‘Democracy is the freedom to elect your own dictators’.

                                              

 Churchill, too, had a contribution to make on the subject:

Democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time. 

Ancient Greece clearly must have a say on the matter. Plato states that it was:

 ‘…. a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and un equals alike.’

Quite simply, in a democracy you have the right to vote – you make your mark on some sort of ballot sheet, under a veil of secrecy, and these votes are collected to be counted. But what exactly happens with these statistics for them to be transmuted into a democratically elected government? Are we fully aware of the ins and outs, the complexities of the electoral systems?

There are three main types of electoral system.

1.       Plurality Electoral Systems

This is also known as ‘First Past the Post’.  There is no majority vote required, it is simply that the candidate who receives most votes is considered the winner and gains a seat.  In Great Britain as well in Canada, the United States and India, the ‘First Past the Post’ system is in operation.

 

2.       Proportional Representation Systems

 These are the most widely used in the world. Here the proportion referenced is the percentage of the total votes (the actual number of valid votes cast) that a party receives and    will be equated into the percentage number of seats awarded it in parliament. So if a party wins 40% of the votes cast, then it is awarded 40% of the seats in parliament.

3.       Majority Electoral Systems

This system requires the winner to win over 50% of the votes cast ie 50% +1 vote to win. If this is not achieved in the first round of balloting, then a second election is held with a reduced number of candidates compared to the first electoral round.

Essentially, this is an oversimplified description. In practice, things are much more complex. In Britain different systems are in operation for elections in the two Houses as well as in local elections. Moreover, the age of suffrage in England and Northern Ireland is 18 years, while in Scotland and Wales people of 16 and over are allowed to vote.

 

  In Greece those who have reached their 17^th birthday are allowed to vote. The 300 parliamentary seats were allocated using a ‘reinforced’ proportional representation system from 2004 to 2016. The Syriza government abolished this, thus denying the 50 bonus seats allocated to the first party. The system they introduced was a ‘party-list proportional representation’ which requires a vote share of at least 45% for a party to be declared the winner. This method almost always requires the formation of a coalition government and if this isn’t possible then a second round of elections must be held. This happened in the recent May elections, thus necessitating a second round to be held on June 25^th.

 Since assuming power, the New Democracy Government repealed the Syriza law and a new system will operate on June 25^th. This once again allows for a bonus seat system but on a sliding scale basis: when the first party has a vote share of 25%, 20 seats will be added - up to a maximum of 50 seats for a vote share of 40% and above.                                                                   

 In ancient times, Greek philosophers long contemplated what the ideal state would be. Socrates proposed a totalitarian regime as the ideal one, where the rulers have all been educated in ruling for decades before taking absolute power.

This may sound extreme but he does have a point. It has been said that the best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter! It seems that education - for both candidates and voters alike - is a prerequisite for a healthy democracy.

 May we go to the polling station soon as an informed electorate – let’s dignify democracy!