8.2 Elections and Governance

Elections are a process for turning public preference into a government. That government will pass laws, raise taxes, and implement public policy. The government’s ability to fulfil those functions might be a product of the electoral rules. For example, does the government involve one party or two? Is the government representative of the voters’ preferences? And is it responsive to public opinion? These are types of outcome-oriented indicators that can be used to analyze election performance (Daoust & Nadeau, 2023).

Government Structure

How does the electoral system relate to the policies implemented by the government? It may be due to the kind of government produced by the system. Factors such as ballot structure and electoral formula can have direct impacts on the party competition and the behaviour of politicians (Lijphart, 1990). Since plurality and majority systems tend to produce governments where a single party controls the legislature, that party will be more able to pass laws (Grofman & Lijphart, 1986). By contrast, proportional systems tend to produce coalition governments, which require compromises between parties. These inter-party negotiations may make it difficult for parties to implement their priorities (Blais & Bol, 2023).

Within this framework, it’s possible that plurality and majoritarian systems might be deemed more responsive, since they face fewer obstacles in implementing their agenda.

Responding to Public Opinion

When an election produces a government that is responsive, we are referring to the tendency of the government to pass laws that the voters want. A government can be considered responsive if the policies implemented align with public opinion. For example, research in the United States suggests that, over time, government policies tend to reflect the will of the voters (measured through public opinion surveys) and that public opinion tends to move before public policy (Paige & Shapiro, 1983). American governments generally seem to do what the voters want.

Governments in PR systems could face challenges responding to public opinion, given the likelihood of a coalition with multiple parties. For example, a larger party might grant concessions to a smaller party in order to form a government (ACE Electoral Knowledge Network, n.d.-b). This dynamic, often present in Israel, may run in the opposite direction to public opinion by adopting the policy preference of fringe parties. Alternatively, research from the Netherlands found that stable coalition governments produced by their PR system were more responsive to public opinion than those in the United Kingdom’s plurality system (McGann et al., 2023). The frequent turnover from one majority government to the next in the UK led to big shifts in policy to the point of overcorrecting.