Crafting competitive party systems: Electoral laws and the opposition in Africa

M. Bogaards*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

After the resurgence of democracy in the 1990s, as was the case after independence, dominant party systems are predominant in africa. This has occurred irrespective of the particular electoral systems used. Both scholars and practitioners have so far failed to apprecite the fact that not fragmentation but concentration of the party system is the main challenge and that a choice between proportional representation or a plurality electoral systems will do little to change the fortunes of the majority party and the opposition. This article goes beyond the current debate by suggesting that opposition parties in Africa could be crafted through a minority premium, preferably in combination with a majority ceiling. Such electoral engineering would in the long-term contribute to the emergence of a two-party system, generally recognized as the environment most congenial to a strong parliamentary, opposition. In the short-term, adoption of a minority premium would increase competitiveness.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)163-190
Number of pages28
JournalDemocratization
Volume7
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - 2000
Externally publishedYes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Crafting competitive party systems: Electoral laws and the opposition in Africa'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this