Elections in Albania have always been a difficult and complicated matter. Seven different electoral systems have been utilized since the end of single-party Communist rule and the Electoral Code has been written and modified eight times only the past 10 years (its amelioration and approximation with western standards from year to year is noticeable, however the lack of provisions for the right to vote for people with intellectual disabilities has been a talked about issue lately). The public has no trust on the electoral administration and elections are contested on regular basis. Since 1991 Albania has undergone many electoral processes, but the electoral culture and experience still remain immature. Ironically enough the most democratic …show more content…
Given the controversy surrounding these elections, the progress of Albania's democratic transition was yet again questioned . The problematic findings were numerous (31 issues and recommendations) such as: the composition of electoral commissions, the modification of the electoral law favouring the party in power, the counting process, the violence toward the opposition candidates and media members etc. Armed dissidents threatened the elections and the later incarceration of the leader of the opposition demonstrated that Albania took a step backwards in the democratization process. “The happenings broke the trust of Albanian citizens in the political parties and institutions” . The state-protected economic pyramid schemes, in which numerous people had invested almost all of their savings, collapsed in 1997. Albania fell into complete anarchy. The country was divided into areas of influence based on their political affiliation and the rule of law was practically non-existent. The historical political cleavage culminated dividing the people according to they political viewpoints and alienating them from …show more content…
For the first time in Albania we see (although in blurry lines) the elements for a minimalist conception of democracy: universal suffrage; free and fair elections; alternative sources of information; pluralism. I’m not stating these elements were fully met, but there was considerable change and the continuous influence of the international actors enabled this advancement. [Thus, the criterion of the main political decision to be made by domestic elected political authorities is not
A majority, held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people. Whoever rejects it, does, of necessity, fly to anarchy or to despotism” (Basler,
Due to the past election there has been several protests and opposing opinions thrown from both the Democratic and Republican parties. One particular article, “Why We Should Abolish the Electoral College”, suggests the idea that our society should abolish the electoral college, due to it’s “unequal distributed [voting power] across our nation”, and switch to the popular vote, when voting during a presidential election. At first this idea may seem sensible to those who do not understand how the electoral college works, the demand is in fact, senseless and will only lead to unproportioned voting amongst all states. However, it is easy to understand why this article is depicting that the electoral college needs adjustments, and to view the main
“Elections are events,” says Orr, arguing that convenience voting takes the historical and communal factors out of the voting equation. The idea of voting on days other than Election Day is still deemed untraditional even though, for instance, postal voting has been around for over a century now. People use convenience voting as alternatives to Election Day, they do not use Election Day as an alternative to convenience voting. This indicates that there is something special about voting on Election Day. Arguably, had voting been convenient on Election Day, people would rather that than use any forms of convenience
Voting is an important activity which is helpful in expressing the insights, ideologies and motivations of a mass for political parties. Voter eligibility in both national and state election has boundaries and limitations. In some states, only adult white male property owners having certain religious believes had the privilege to vote. As a result, only five percent were eligible to vote in 1790. There were other obstructions such as white only primaries, literacy tests, race, gender and age.
Introduction An electoral system or voting system is a mechanism by voters to make a choice between the options put forward before them. This part of rules is the most controversy about electoral systems for converting votes into seats. According to Hague and Harrop (2001), an election is a competition for office based on a formal expression of preferences by a population. These opinions are then combined into a collective decision about which candidates have won. As Abraham Lincoln said “Election belong to the people.
For many years, America’s voting system has been criticized, with the main point of interest being the Electoral College. Some say that the Electoral College is necessary to streamline and simplify the voting process, while others say that it is outdated and takes away power from American citizens. After investigating the subject, it is clear that the Electoral College should be abolished due to the three major defects its critics find in the system; its undemocratic nature, its tendency to give small states’ votes too much power, and its disastrous effects on third-party candidates. The first, and possibly largest, defect in the Electoral College is its undemocratic nature. A professor of political science once said that “the Electoral College violates political equality” (Edwards 453).
Every four years, on the first Tuesday in November, millions of American citizens go to the polls and vote indirectly for their President. However, the actual election takes place in December and only 538 people are involved and this small group is called the Electoral College. This paper will explain and analyze the voting process of the US president, mainly focusing on the Electoral College. The US Constitution was forged 200 hundred years ago in which the “founding father” divided the process of electing the President and Vice President in two-step systems; by which people will cast their votes, then these votes will convene to a small group, Electoral College.
The United States currently faces a severe problem with one of their governmental processes. In the democratic system of the United States, politicians are elected by voting from the citizens, in most cases. The problem the United States is facing is that people are no longer voting in elections for officials. This problem is discussed in the article, “In praise of low voter turnout”, written by Charles Krauthammer. The main idea behind this article is that voters are no longer interested in politics, as they were in previous generations.
The fundamental roles of the individual citizen were to exercise these rights such as expressing their opinion in both speaking in public (freedom of speech, 11) and in deciding on things such as taxes (speaking to a representative,14). 3. How does the document define political sovereignty, and how is this definition related to the deputies’ collective sense of identity and
An Important Distinction Between Democracy and Republic It is important to keep in mind the difference between a Democracy and a Republic, as dissimilar forms of government. Understanding the difference is essential to comprehension of the fundamentals involved. It should be noted, in passing, that use of the word Democracy as meaning merely the popular type of government--that is, featuring genuinely free elections by the people periodically--is not helpful in discussing, as here, the difference between alternative and dissimilar forms of a popular government: a Democracy versus a Republic. This double meaning of Democracy--a popular-type government in general, as well as a specific form of popular government--needs to be made clear in any discussion, or writing, regarding this subject, for the sake of sound understanding.
Proportional Representation by single transferable vote is the system used in Ireland to elect Dáil Éireann. I will be looking at how PR-STV is used within Ireland and the steps involved in the voting selection. I will also be looking at the positives and negatives of PR-STV within the Irish electoral system. PRSTV was first introduced in 1918 in a single local council within Sligo. The British government then introduced it into Ireland in 1920 (under British rule) and was then introduced into the Irish Free State constitution in 1922.
In Thailand for example, the discourse that the election system is no more reliable because of populist activities performing by the corrupted government agencies in order to “buy vote” from the poor and uneducated majority is apparent. People seem to lost faith in democracy due to the belief that it is an instrument of immorality. However, the belief is untruthful. Democracy takes the significant part in reducing corruption with only that the process is not happen naturally. In this essay, the argument f
If some citizens who are qualified to vote are denied the right to cast votes, it is considered as a severe abuse of political equality. The debate about the age of electoral majority has taken place for a long period; however, there has been moderately slight attention in the debate given to the exclusion of young people from the vote (Tremmel, 2015). Some of the critics of lowering the voting age to sixteen claim that the young people do not possess the capability and motivation of appropriately taking part in the elections. Some studies have shown that the turnout of the voters ages 18 years is relatively low, however, this cannot specifically attribute to the motivation to take part in the election (Wagner, Johann, & Kritzinger, 2012). This shows that this the issue of the age to the electoral majority is of significance and should be discussed.
Conclusion: Page 6 6. Bibliography: Page 6 Introduction: This an age old argument on whether the people should be ruled by one single all powerful leader who isn’t challenged or a leader who is democratically elected into power. In this academic piece I will be looking at the benefits and pitfalls of each form of government as well as give a few examples of each and decide if they were successful.
Many people believe that the election plays the most important role in democracy. Because a free and fair election holds the government responsible and forces it to behave on voter's interest. However, some scholars find evidence that election itself is not enough to hold politicians responsible if the institutions are not shaping incentives in a correct way. In other words, the role of the election on democracy, whether it helps to serve the interest of the public or specific groups, depends on other political institutions. I