Legislative Seats Research Articles

Political and Constitutional Rights of Tribal Communities in Indian Constitution

The Constitution of India has laid down some basic provisions for the upliftment of the interests of the tribal community and its overall upliftment. Considering the social and economic situation in India, the scheduled tribes should get a fair place in the development of the country in the post - independence era, they should be developed in all respects and social and economic equality should be established, and the feeling of marginalization should not remain in the backward tribes. Specially, there is a provision in our constitution to reserve some seats in legislatures, ministries and administration for backward classes. While preparing the state constitution of the country, it is seen that important provisions have been made in the constitution for the scheduled tribes in order to establish economic and social democracy in the country. In order to establish economic and social justice, it was necessary to make special provisions for the backward classes.

Effects of Gerrymandering on State Social Policy

Partisan bias occurs when one party gets something the other party does not. If a given district map results in one party gleaning a higher proportion of the legislative seats than the proportion of votes cast for that party, since this effect is only possible for one party, then partisan bias has occurred. It can be strategically produced via gerrymandering and is thought by many to circumvent the basic principles of democracy. This study uses recent state election results to compute a measure of partisan bias, as well as secondary data measuring the levels of five state social policies, to assess the effect of gerrymandering on those policies. It also tests whether the state’s redistricting method is related to partisan bias. Partisan bias correlated with, and explained significant variance in, all five social policies measured. The redistricting method was related to the direction and intensity of partisan bias. The results indicate gerrymandering of state districts results in more extreme social policies than preferred by the majority of voters.

Konstitusi Myanmar Tahun 2008: Pembagian Kekuasaan Antara Sipil-Militer pada Masa Pemerintahan Sipil Usdp (2011-2016) & Nld (2016-2021) di Myanmar

This study aims to analyze civil-military relations during the USDP and NLD governments, as well as analyze the democratic transition in Myanmar that led to the division of power during the civilian rule. This research was conducted using qualitative research methods. That is, a method that is used by providing an overview of the problem being discussed by arranging the facts in such a way that it forms a configuration of the problem that can be understood clearly. This approach has an assumption by seeing social reality as an ever-changing condition and is the result of social construction between actors and social institutions. As a result, under the 2008 Constitution, the military in Myanmar remains dominant in security and defense with 25% of legislative seats reserved for the Tatmadaw. This division of power is unequal, resulting in military dominance, as the democratic transition is controlled by the military through a "seven-step roadmap to democracy," without the significant role of the NLD. Civilian control over the military during the 2011-2021 civilian rule was not achieved, with the military having sovereign authority in top-down policies and weak political representation.

Federal Judges, States Legislators, and State Voting Rights Rollback

Abstract This article claims that recent Supreme Court decisions have allowed state lawmakers to suppress and skew but not subvert the vote. The Court relaxed federal oversight of state election administration in Shelby County v. Holder (2013), Abbott v. Perez (2018), and Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee (2021), and gerrymandering in Rucho v. Common Cause (2019), while prohibiting independent state legislative election regulation in Moore v. Harper (2023). These decisions guided state lawmakers toward vote suppression and skewing, and away from election subversion. Consequently, Republican state legislatures have passed state constitutional amendments and statutes limiting ballot access and reforming state redistricting practices. While some Democratic state legislatures have protected ballot access and independent redistricting, these recent Supreme Court decisions help Republicans win a disproportionate share of state legislative seats. National courts thus help preserve the national party coalition by opening subnational jurisdictions to party entrenchment.

Social Expenditures in Odisha: Populism Versus Human Capital Formation

This article examines the level, composition and trends of social expenditures at the subnational level in India using the secondary data of Odisha from 1990–91 to 2016–17 due to the low level of economic development in the state. The level of social expenditures of Odisha is better than those of the 14 major states of the country. However, it is not sufficient for the development of the state due to its declining trend and a small proportion of capital account social expenditures. Regarding the composition of social expenditures, a substantial proportion is incurred on populism rather than human capital formation. Social expenditures deviate from human capital formation to populism with time. Further emphasis is shifted towards economic services from social expenditures in the total expenditures. The ruling party used the strategy of populism to win seats in the state legislature keeping in mind the high proportion of the poor, illiterates and poor farmers in the state, where a direct relationship exists between human capital formation and winning seats in the legislature. To ensure economic development, the state should strive to improve its human capital formation and refrain from populist measures.

Evaluating special representation of non‐resident citizens: Eligibility, constituency and proportionality

AbstractSo far, 21 countries have introduced—and some thereafter withdrawn—reserved legislative seats for their citizens living abroad. Existing literature on this form of special representation has studied this topic either empirically or normatively. We bring these two approaches together based on the main dimensions of institutional variation of special representation: (1) eligibility, (2) constituency structure and (3) electoral proportionality. We first discuss each dimension from a normative perspective. In the second step, we map the range of empirical variation and highlight the most common arrangements. We conclude that the normative justification for special representation is generally weak, but some institutional configurations pose fewer problems. Specifically, we see fewer issues with special representation when electoral inclusion is limited to the first generation of emigrants and when it is used to limit the electoral influence of non‐resident populations that make up a large share of the overall electorate. By grounding our normative discussion on an empirical mapping, we bridge two disconnected literatures on special representation of non‐resident citizens.

The Effects of Electoral Violence on Women’s Legislative Representation

Despite the global expansion in women’s access to political leadership in recent decades, female parliamentarians remain a distinct minority in most national legislatures. Previous studies have linked variations in women’s descriptive representation to international and domestic security threats, such as interstate war and transnational terrorist campaigns. However, existing research has thus far overlooked how the turbulence, unrest, and violence often associated with the election process itself may produce gendered electoral outcomes. I argue that violent contention in the period immediately preceding elections introduces gendered distortions to the political recruitment process that determines the gender composition of legislatures. The cumulative effect of these distortions is a reduction in the proportion of legislative seats subsequently held by women. To evaluate my hypothesis, I analyze data from 620 nominally competitive legislative elections in 128 countries between 1990 and 2012. Consistent with expectations, the results suggest that higher levels of election-related violence are associated with lower rates of women's descriptive representation.

When women run: explaining the emergence of women state legislative candidates

ABSTRACT Since 2016, the number of women running for office has dramatically increased. Although much of the congressional research has demonstrated that women candidates do not face significant disadvantages, other more recent work shows that women often face different challenges and advantages based on their race and ethnicity. We examine the factors that influence how the political and institutional context shapes the emergence of female candidates for state legislative seats using an intersectional framework. By exploring these dynamics at the state level, we leverage significant variability in the institutional and political environments to understand how institutions may shape the emergence of a more diverse pool of candidates. Our findings underscore the importance of district demographics in shaping the pool of candidates from diverse backgrounds. Institutional and electoral features play a role as well, yet this varies across different racial and ethnic groups.

The best at the top? Candidate ranking strategies under closed list proportional representation

Abstract Under closed-list proportional representation, a party's electoral list determines the order in which legislative seats are allocated to candidates. When candidates differ in their ability, parties face a trade-off between competence and incentives. Ranking candidates in decreasing order of competence ensures that elected politicians are most competent. Yet, party lists create incentives for candidates that may lead parties not to place their best candidates at the top of the list. We examine this trade-off in a game-theoretical model in which parties rank their candidates on a list, candidates choose their campaign effort, and the election is a team contest for multiple prizes. We analyze how the candidates’ objectives, voters’ attention and media coverage, incumbency, the number of parties competing in the election, and the electoral environment influence how parties rank candidates.

Political Party Management Strategy: An Approach to Political Communication Strategy

In the 2019 Legislative Election there were 19 parties participating in the election contest, of which 4 new parties passed, while in the 2024 Legislative Election there were 24 parties that passed, including 4 new parties, one of which was the Gelora Party and in South Sulawesi only 18 parties passed the election. This research aims to (1) describe the Gelora Party's communication planning in obtaining legislative seats. (2) describes the implementation of Gelora Party communications to obtain legislative seats. This research was carried out at the Gelora Party DPW Office, South Sulawesi. Data collection was carried out through observation, in-depth interviews and documentation. Data analysis uses qualitative methods with a narrative or descriptive qualitative study approach. The results of the research show that the Gelora Party's Political Communication Strategy as a New Party in the 2023 General Election continues to implement a political communication strategy in winning legislative seats, where means of supporting political communication such as creative and up-to-date social media content to support the popularity of legislative candidates, a persuasive approach is still dominant. The Gelora Party and its image as a Nationalist Party became an obstacle in gaining support from other religious groups.

The Influence of Government Ideology on Renewable Energy Consumption in the European Union Countries

By utilizing the panel quantile regression method and employing unbalanced panel data covering the years between 1972 and 2020, this study examines the impact of government ideology on renewable energy consumption for 26 EU member countries. The estimation results indicated that an increase in the relative power position of right-wing parties in government was correlated with a decrease in renewable energy consumption, whereas a rise in the relative power position of left-wing or center-wing parties in government was associated with an increase in renewable energy consumption across all quantiles evaluated. The estimation results were robust to different indicators of renewable energy consumption and government ideology. The estimation results of this study also indicated statistically significant positive associations between the share of seats in parliament for political parties classified as green and renewable energy consumption, and between the total Christian democratic governing party seats as a percentage of all legislative seats and renewable energy consumption. This result suggests that green parties and Christian democratic parties may be the key driving forces behind the positive coefficients for variables representing left-wing and center-wing parties in our study.

Partisan distribution of ministerial portfolios in Asian-Pacific democracies

How are ministerial portfolios distributed among coalition parties in Asian-Pacific democracies? Studies of power-sharing in Asia tend to focus on democratization processes rather than executive cabinets, although government coalitions occur regularly in the region. Using an original dataset of governments in 27 Asian-Pacific democracies from 1945 to 2018, I examine the bargaining advantage of the formateur party - the party managing the government formation process - over other parties entering government. We know from existing studies, mainly on Europe, that government parties holding larger shares of legislative seats receive larger shares of cabinet posts. I argue that portfolio allocation also depends on institutional context, and use the substantial institutional variation across countries in my dataset to test implications of this argument. I find that formateur parties have a greater advantage over coalition partners in presidential systems than in parliamentary ones, but that this advantage diminishes as political constraints facing the formateur increase.

Pengisian Kekosongan Kursi Anggota Legislatif dari Partai Politik yang Dibubarkan oleh Mahkamah Konstitusi

Political parties are an important component in Indonesia's democratic political system. Political parties are needed because they have a position and role as a strategic liaison between government processes and the citizens. The dissolution of political parties carried out by the Constitutional Court can have an impact on vacant legislative member seats. The formulation of the problem of this research is what is the mechanism for filling vacancies in legislative seats resulting from the dissolution of political parties by the Constitutional Court? This is a normative juridical with a statutory approach. The data collection technique used is through document and literature studies of secondary data in the form of primary, secondary and tertiary legal materials. The results of this research conclude that filling vacancies in legislative seats as a result of the dissolution of political parties by the Constitutional Court can be done using a plebiscite mechanism.

A Contemporary Legal Overview of Party Switching of Elected Legislators of the National and State Assemblies Under the Nigerian Constitutional System

The 1999 Nigerian Fundamental law came into effect on May 29 1999. It provides that an elected legislator in the National and State Assemblies shall vacate his legislative seat if he switches from the sponsoring political party to another political party during his tenure in the legislative house, save on the ground of division or factionalisation in the sponsoring party. The Constitution is, nevertheless, mute on the issue, regarding political executives, including a governor. The relevant statutory provisions, that is sub-section (1)(g) of sections 68 and 109 of the Constitution above have been abused, as some Nigerian courts have utilised them to sack elected legislators above for party switching of the same during their tenure in the legislative houses despite their constitutional rights, including the equal protection of the law and not to be discriminated against right, as enunciated in section 42(1) of the Constitution above. The article undertakes a contemporary legal overview of party switching of elected legislators of the assemblies above against the backdrop of relevant case-law and statutory provisions. The research methodology used by the authors is fundamentally doctrinal analysis of relevant primary as well as secondary sources. The article finds that the sacking of elected legislators above by some Nigerian courts on account of party switching as indicated above is unconstitutional. The article suggests that Nigeria should expunge from its Constitution the said relevant statutory provisions in tune with what obtains in other countries such as the United States of America (USA), United Kingdom (UK), Canada and Australia.

Collective Mandates in Brazil: Democratic Innovations to Boost Participation in Legislature

ABSTRACT Recently in Brazil, some politicians and organised groups have aimed to increase representation and legitimacy in legislatures via ‘collective mandates’, a democratic innovation (DI) that allows a group of citizens to collectively campaign and, if elected, share decision-making of a legislative seat. This article maps and analyses collective mandates implemented in Brazil from 1994 to 2022 to find their differences and similarities. This study identified 643 candidacies; 56 of them were elected for legislative mandates in city councils, state legislatures, and the National Congress. The qualitative analysis focused on six benchmark cases using the following analytical dimensions: initiative, group size, eligibility, moment of access, decision-making process, and interaction mechanism. The data sources were two nationwide reports on the theme (until 2020), raw data from the 2022 elections, and information available about the mandates on their websites, blogs, and social media. In conclusion, despite being generally labelled as ‘collective mandates’, the ongoing experiences have produced at least two subtypes: pure collective mandates and shared mandates. The common denominator holds the innovative concept: a legislator shares their power with a group of citizens, giving up parliamentary autonomy to foment democratic participation and accountability in the mandate.

Patron’s largess and regional borrowing under authoritarian rule

Patrons in authoritarian governance systems are expected to spread the state’s largess selectively, channeling the most rewards within their client networks. This empirical study evaluates whether the congruence between regional leadership and the leadership at the federal level in the Russian Federation influences the distribution of regional borrowing. The findings show that one of the distribution channels of largess to the regions is through budget credits, a form of heavily subsidized long-term loans that the Kremlin controls. Due to a symbiotic nature of the linkage between the central state and regional clients in this patronage system, largess accrues to the regions that offer greater support to the party of power in their regional legislatures. However, this linkage is present only in relatively more contested regions of the federation and not in the regions where the party of power holds a majority of legislative seats. Empirical results remain significant even when regional wealth and fiscal need variables are considered.

2019 Nyíregyháza City Council election

One of the main perspectives and urgent tasks of the newly formed government following the general elections of 2010 was to reform the local eletoral system. It is true, that the number of seats of the local representative bodies were significantly decreased, but it begs the question whether this change can reasonably explain the fact that the government considered this step as one of the first and most significant measures of its governance. To raise this question is justified by the fact that the reform (Act No. L of 2010 on the election of local government representatives and mayors) was introduced on June 14, 2010, with only sixteen days after the new Parliament approved and voted for the government’s program, and elected Viktor Orbán as prime minister of Hungary. After a brief presentation of the institutional framewortk of the local electoral system, the aim of this paper is twofold: first, I would examine whether the local electoral reform of 2010 could be considered as a „fair” step, based on John Ralws’ conception of „justice as fairness”, second, I would like to explain the actual process of transforming votes into local legislative seats in the case of the city of Nyíregyháza, in 2019.

How do women are represented in the European legislative assemblies: comparative analysis of the left and populist political parties’ practices

The article is devoted to the problem of gender equality in politics and the representation of women in legislative bodies in Europe. The authors draw attention to the fact that the role of women in the European political landscape is increasing against the background of the crisis of traditional political parties. There is a relationship between the percentage of women involved in the work of legislative bodies and the political orientation of the parties that nominated them. As a hypothesis, the idea is accepted that the countries with the highest gender equality index and strong positions of social democratic parties are main donors for women in politics. Populist parties are mainly supporters of classical European traditionalism, therefore, in countries with strong right-wing populist parties’ women are less represented and there is an uneven distribution of legislative seats in favor of men. By analysing the empirical base (electoral statistics and discourse analysis), the authors come to the conclusion that gender parity has not been achieved in the most European countries. The most effective way to enforce women representation in the European legislative bodies is to implement quotas at the level of national legislation, as well as to use of voluntary party quotas. However, the artificial nomination of weak female candidates who do not find support among voters and thus ensure guaranteed electability for strong male candidates. This is especially true for right-wing populist political parties, furthermore this trend is typical for most European countries. In addition to quotas, the European countries use special educational and social policies to minimise the pressure of gender stereotypes and expand the practice of women's political participation at all levels of government, which has yielded positive results; in today's convocation of the European Parliament, women are represented more than in previous convocations.

Konstelasi kekuatan partai politik dalam pemilu serentak tahun 2019 di Kabupaten Pemalang

The general election is a contestation involving political parties and individuals in a democracy, where various processes and details follow. The result of the election is a number of vote which are then converted into seats in the legislature or the electability of the elite. These two results the become materials that are constantly being studied and analyzed, of course with various basid research objectives. The number of good votes obtained by political parties, legislative candidates, regional elite candidates to the president is rich in meaning and shows a variety of studies. Figures obtained by political parties both of the national level, especially at the regional level, have variouse aspect, such as strength of the party the power of the political machine or the level of competition in the region. These meanings are quite reasonable because the number of party votes, especially in the regoins, shows the dynamics closest to the vasiouse phenomena of the competition between political parties themselves. The study of the vote acquisition of political parties in regions, especially the districts, is a micro study developed by the electoral district (Daerah Pemilihan/Dapil). This constituency is the main point for cq’s vote. Seats in the regional legislature as well as evidence of the strength of political parties in the electoral district. Many variations appear when reading the vote count, of course, because each electoral district has has certain characteristics that tend to be relatively different. This study focuse on the vote acquisition of political parties in the electoral district in Pemalang Regency, Central Java. Pemalang Regency is located in the North West part of Central Java, and is crossed by national arterial road known as The Pantura (Pantai Utara Jawa). The large base political parties is PDI P, PKB, Gerindra, P Golkar, PPP and PKS, a political party strength which is also manifesd in the national political map. The vote gain of political parties are the looked at per eletoral district and then compared between parties, and the result is a vairety of variations as a result of the local poltical prosesses of each different electoral district.

Globalization, Political Institutions, and Redistribution in Central and Eastern Europe

We examine the role of political institutions in mediating the effects of globalization on economic redistribution in Central and Eastern Europe. The region represents a least-likely case of welfare state resilience in the face of global economic pressures given its reliance on foreign capital and considerable domestic elite support for neoliberal recipes during the postcommunist transition. Yet, contrary to the race-to-the-bottom hypothesis and consistent with the compensation perspective, we find that economic openness is on average related to higher redistribution. Using the high-quality European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions database for 2004–2018, we find that this effect is particularly pronounced in institutional environments where votes are more accurately translated into legislative seats (low disproportionality) and where governments face greater scrutiny both during elections (vertical accountability) and between them (diagonal accountability). Thus, even in a region that adopted “competitive deregulation,” the downward pressures of globalization were limited by electoral pressures for economic redistribution.