Electoral system and female participation in parliament

[soniya55531]

One of the reasons why OECD member countries, considered developed, have greater female representation in politics is the way their electoral systems were designed.


Unlike Brazil, where elections are held through open list voting, that is, the votes go to the party, but the voter votes for the candidate, in closed lists each party presents a list of candidates who will compete for the positions and the first ones have priority – being elected before the others.


In this way, voters are aware of the lists before the elections and, after voting with the votes counted, the contested seats will be distributed among the parties in proportion to the number of votes received by their respective lists. One of the main differences between the lists is that in the open system, candidates can still maintain their campaigns nepal mobile database independent of the party, considering the fact that they receive the votes directly. In the closed system, candidates are selected by the parties in a fixed manner and there is no disconnection from the party, since the voter casts his vote for the set of candidates displayed on each party's list and no longer directly for a single candidate.


This model can bring more strength to parties and greater ideological alignment, in addition to determining which candidates will be at the top of the list and, therefore, closer to being elected. This will allow parties to reduce gender inequality by opting to include more women on their lists.


Another possibility is the mixed-vote electoral system, which works with the party presenting a name for the district contest and a list for the state contest. The voter chooses his or her candidate in the first vote and the party in the second. This method was adopted by Germany, a member of the OECD and which ranks 46th in the ranking of female representation.


In Brazil, both models, closed list and mixed list, were submitted to Congress for a vote in order to reconfigure the electoral system. However, neither proposal was approved.