Electoral Processes/Electoral Systems in Commonwealth Caribbean

Electoral Processes/Electoral Systems in Commonwealth Caribbean

By Mahaila Edwards-Horsham

Learning Outcomes

​At the end of this lesson you will be able to:

Describe what is an electoral process

Describe​ what is First-past-the -post

List the advantages/disadvantages of First-past-the-post​

Open Ended

At what age are citizens of Trinidad and Tobago allowed to vote?

Electoral Processes

• Countries in the Commonwealth caribbean are democracies, where the government is chosen by the citizens in a general election that should be free and fair.

• all eligible people are allowed to cast a vote

• elections are contested by political parties

• members of a political party share similar political views,beliefs and ideas.

• to exercise the right to vote , a person must register

• the electorate of a country are all the eligible, registered voters.​

There are TWO types of electoral systems used in the Commonwealth Caribbean​

1. FIRST-PAST-THE-POST

2. PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION​

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​Electoral systems

​

• A political party gains a seat in the parliament for every constituency its candidates win​

• First-past-the-post is used all Commonealth countries except Guyana​

• An electoral system in which the candidate winning the most votes in a constituency wins the constituency and becomes the representative for that constituency.

FIRST PAST THE POST ​

Multiple Choice

How many electoral systems are used in the Commowealth Caribbean ?

• 3

• 4

• 2

• 1

Multiple Choice

Which statement is true of Commonwealth Caribbean countries?

• They are all republics

• They are all democracies

• They are all dictarorships

• They all have coalition governments

Multiple Choice

In the first-past-the post electoral system the party that wins the most constituencies wins the election

• true

• false

• the prime minister is chosen from the winning party and the leader of opposition from the party with the seondest highest number of seats

• if no party wins an outright majority, the situation is described as an hung parliament​

• each political party contesting the elections puts up a candidate

• the party that wins the most constituencies wins the overall election​

  ​

How the first-past-the-post system works

In the year 2001​ General Elections, both PNM & UNC WON 18 SEATS EACH

President ANR Robinson chose Mr Manning to be the Prime Minister​

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• ​Constituencies that elect members in opposition may be neglected or victimised by the governmnt

• it is possible for a party with a minority of votes overall to form a government. For e.g. one party may win than half the seats in parliament( and therefore form the government) with less than half the total votes​

​

​Disadvantages

• ​Guarantees that the election is won by the candidate with the highest number of votes

• Constituencies can choose their own representatives

• Constitutents can appeal directly to their representatives​ regarding services in the constiuency

​Advantages

Post -past-the-post

• ​It allows for gerrymandering

• Independent candidate who are not from a political party can struggle to gain votes​

​Disadvantages

• ​Promotes accountability within a constituency from an individual parliamentarian since he or she are responsible to his or her constituency

​Advantages

Post -past-the-post

Open Ended

List ONE advantage and ONE disadvantage of the First-past-the-post- system

THE END​

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