1994/01/01 by Panayote Elias Dimitras · 1 citation
Mathematics · Social Sciences · #Ballot #Computer science #Democracy #Distribution (mathematics) #Economics #Electoral Systems and Political Participation #Electoral system #Epistemology #Government (linguistics) #Irish and British Studies #Law #Mathematics #Philosophy #Political economy #Political science #Political stability #Politics #Proportional representation #Representation (politics) #Simple (philosophy) #Social Policy and Reform Studies #Stability (learning theory) #Voting
paper · doi:10.1007/978-1-349-23366-3_10
openalex publication_date 1994/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
Since 1926, when the paper ballot finally replaced the lead ballot throughout the country, Greece has seen 22 parliamentary elections and 17 electoral systems, which fall into three categories: plurality systems, ‘simple’ proportional representation, and ‘reinforced’ proportional representation. In this chapter we will explain the characteristics of the three categories, detail the similarities and differences among the various versions of each category, and evaluate the electoral systems’ effects on seat distribution as well as on the evolution of political forces and on government formation. We will also argue that the frequent changes of the electoral laws were mostly due to three reasons: the search for government stability (53 cabinets in 50 ‘democratic’ years), the marginalization of ‘undesirable’ political forces, and minimization of the outgoing governments’ potential seat losses. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.