Blog 7:Duverger’s Law and France

Blog 7:Duverger’s Law and France

Just as there are many democratic countries in the world, there are also many different ways to organize a democratic country. The way in which a country will organize their government is a vital question each country has to answer for themselves, and once that answer is given it is constantly debated and refined.

            There are two main ways a democratic government can be organized: Single Member District Plurality (SMDP) and Proportional Representation (PR). The distinction between these two methods comes from how seats are awarded following an election. In France a system of SMDP is used. In this system there are certain common elements.

One common element is the district magnitude, in countries with SMDP each district elects one representative. This is also true in France, which is separate into 577 districts, each electing someone to fill one seat in the National Assembly. (IPU 2012)

Another element of France’s electoral system that is derived from its SMDP organization is its threshold. In many proportional represented countries there is a percentage of votes a party must receive to remain a party. However, most SMDP countries, France included, allow almost any party to be on the ballot and instead count on the voting of the public and the organization of the system to deal with fringe or unpopular parties.

            One more element which defines the difference between these two systems is Duverger’s Law, which states that the effective number of parties in any electoral district is a function of the electoral rules, wherein SMDP leads to two effective parties while PR allows for more.

            This means that in theory since France uses a single member district plurality system there should only be two effective parties. However, according to Wikipedia’s election information, over ten parties ran in the last election. (Wikipedia 2012) This would break Duverger’s law. Except when we count the number of effective parties instead of just the number of parties that run the number is a lot smaller. The number of effective parties is calculated by taking the inverse of the sum of the proportion of seats each party receives. According to that formula the number of effective parties in France is 2.8. Although this number is slightly higher than that expected by Duverger it is still consistent with his theory that it would be lower than countries with proportional representation.  Another factor that allows the theory to be even more correct is the fact that parties in France have begun to form coalitions. So even though more than two parties are elected they are joined together into two groups: the parties of the left, and the parties of the right. Meaning that as the country continued to use SMDP even though there was a larger number of parties the number of effective parties began approaching two.

            One aspect of France’s electoral rules that differ from some countries that also use SMDP is its use of the two round voting system.  (Diplomatie 2012) This two round first-past-the-post system means that each member of the assembly is elected by a majority (50% plus 1 vote) system rather than just the largest number of votes. This allows for each citizen to more directly vote for their representative as if a citizen at first votes for a party that does not receive enough votes to move to the second round they can vote again for the party that will represent them.

In conclusion, because France made the decision as a country to organize along the SMDP system there are certain aspects of their organization that are consistent with other SMDP nations. They have no threshold for voting, the district magnitude is one, and the formula used to award seats is two-round majority rules. Also, because of the coalitions that have begun to form France supports Duverger’s law of number of effective parties.