Topic > Advantages and disadvantages of the list system - 1427

0 What is the list system? The voting system is the key or wheel to make democracy work properly (Phillips, 2012). Since democracy was created, the voting system has been shrouded in controversy in the case of converting votes into seats. The list system has been used in Western countries, notably Belgium, which successfully adopted it in 1899. The list system refers to the idea of ​​parties presenting lists of candidates within each multi-member constituency (Gallagher & Mitchell, 2005, p. Its basic function is that voters will vote for the party rather than the candidate. They are conventionally divided into two types: those with a closed list, in which the voter cannot express a choice for the individual candidates on the list, and those with a preferential list, in which voters can do so. The system will reward a group of 20 percent of the electorate with approximately 20 percent of the seats in a legislature. 4.1 The advantages The first advantage of the proportional representative (PR) system is that it can eliminate malapportionment. Maldistribution is the creation of inequalities in electoral districts with divergent relationships between voters and representatives. The problem in Malaysia is to establish constituencies due to the large difference in Malaysia's population between constituencies. This can be found in rural and urban areas. The principle during an election is that every citizen's vote is equal. A person or citizen will give a vote to their respective chosen candidates during an election. But because of the problem, rural votes become more influential and valuable than an urban vote, which could be a violation of the rules of democracy. For example, Kapar constituency has 112,224 voters and Putrajaya constituency…middle of paper…however, the majoritarian system does not reflect what people want most. The political scientist knows that the majority votes for the opposition in urban areas, but there are two or three opposition parties competing for one seat (PAS, PKR, DAP), the vote was split and Barisan Nasional won because the majority are First Past The Post system we practiced. Even though the PR system has its disadvantages, it reflects a much healthier political system and most importantly all people are involved in the decision making process. Just like the coin, it has two sides, the first one promotes the advantages and the other shows the disadvantages. Should the government replace the entire FPTP system with the PR system in the future? The Election Commission should be vigilant and study all these aspects in order to pursue the true meaning of social justice in the future.