Daniela Pastarmadzhieva

Department of Political Sciences and National Security, 

University of Plovdiv Paisii Hilendarski,

Bulgaria

daniela.pastarmadzhieva@uni-plovdiv.bg

ORCID 0000-0002-5857-3595

Electoral systems and functioning of the states

Abstract. The electoral system for formation of the legislature has a direct impact on the party system of a state and an indirect one on the stability of the political system, representation of various social groups and partially on the economic performance. Each of the main types of electoral systems (majority/plurality, proportional representation, and mixed systems) consists of subtypes and the results that they produce may vary. Thus, the aim of the current study is to identify if there is an association between the electoral system of a country and its functioning. The object of the research is 176 countries and the focus of the study is their electoral system and a selection of indicators, which demonstrate the performance of the countries. A selection of approaches and methods were used, namely secondary processing of quantitative data, statistical methods such as frequencies, cross tables, chi square, testing hypothesis and comparative analysis. The results show that the electoral system is relevant mostly for the fragility level of the countries. The electoral system didn’t prove to be relevant for the income level, unemployment, GDP per capita, group grievance, uneven economic development, refugees and IDPs.

Received: November, 2020

1st Revision: June, 2021

Accepted: August, 2021

DOI: 10.14254/2071-8330.2021/14-3/3

JEL Classification: D72, K16

Keywords: electoral system, fragility of the states, unemployment, GDP per capita, income