Blog 7

Iceland and Duverger's Law

                Duverger’s Law states that “the effective number of parties in any electoral district is a function of the electoral rules: SMDP rules produce two effective parties, while proportional representation rules allow for more” (Hawkins). Iceland supports this statement because it has 4 effective parties based on their electoral rules of a high district magnitude, a d’hondt formula, a second tier of distributing seats that includes a threshold, and a closed party list structure.

                The five political parties with representation in Althingi, the parliament of Iceland, include the Social Democratic Alliance, the Independent Party, the Left-Green Movement, the Progressive Party, and The Movement. The equation, 1/∑ , can be used to determine the effective number of parties (Hawkins). The proportion of seats each party has in Parliament, squared “” is .1024, .0625, .0361, .0196, and .0025 (Wikipedia). So 1/∑  1/ (.1024+ .0625+ .0361+ .0196+ .0025) = 1/.2231= 4.48.This means there are four effective parties in Iceland which includes all the parties listed above minus The Movement.

                The district magnitude describes how many seats are allotted to each electoral district. In Iceland, out of 54 of the seats, 10-11 are distributed to each multi-constituency district. The formula Iceland uses to allocate the seats to the districts is called the d’hondt method (Parline). This system awards seats to parties with the highest average and slightly favors larger parties over small ones (Wikipedia). However, smaller parties are still able to receive seats within this system if they are concentrated in a certain region or the district magnitude is high. Iceland’s district magnitude is fairly high therefore many parties can be effective. The last 9 seats are considered supplementary and second tier. They are distributed to each party in proportion to its national vote, not the district. A threshold of 5% of the national vote must be reached for a party to gain a national seat. This rule excludes the smallest parties from having any representation at all. Iceland also has a party list system with closed party lists (Parline). This means that the people do not vote for the candidates directly, but simply vote for the party and the party chooses the list of candidates for office. This list is necessary because votes count towards the party not the constituent specifically and each party needs to be prepared to fill all 10-11 seats for each district. This system is not a hybrid because all of these electoral rules allow for proportional representation.

                Iceland has four effective political parties because of its proportional representation using the d’hondt method. The high district magnitude and the second tier of voting support the allocation of seats so that smaller parties receive some. The example of Iceland supports Duverger’s Law.

               

Works cited:

·         Hawkins, Kirk. “Electoral Systems.” Lecture. October 31, 2012

·         "List of Political Parties in Iceland." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 11 Jan. 2012. Web. 02 Nov. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_Iceland>.

·         IPU PARLINE Database: ICELAND (Althingi), Electoral System." IPU PARLINE Database: ICELAND (Althingi), Electoral System. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2012. <http://www.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/2143_B.htm>.