Contextual Determinants of Electoral System Choice - Ã bo Akademi

22). 30 Nevertheless, the coded year of electoral system choice is 1981. If I hadcoded 1951 as the official year of choosing an electoral system, one may ask whyother non-independent territories in which general elections have been held areexcluded from the analysis. However, the study focuses on electoral system choicein independent countries – not in every single territory of the world where electionsare held. Still, there is no reason to exclude countries in which the former colonialpower has introduced electoral provisions.The decision to use the year of independence as the year of electoral system choicein these countries is also justified by the fact that the country in question has hadthe opportunity to reject the old electoral system at the time of independence. Inthis way, the colonial diffusion variable also appears more meaningful: is the oldsystem rejected when the first independent constitution (and electoral law) isadopted or does the newly independent country inherit the electoral system of theirformer colonial masters? As for countries without pre-independence electoralinstitutions, the relevant electoral laws determine the coded year of electoralsystem choice. If information on the date of the electoral law is lacking, the year ofthe first parliamentary elections under the new electoral system is decisive.Another reason not to use the year of introducing pre-independence electoralprovisions as the official coded year of electoral system choice is that informationon the first elections is often inadequate, including the exact point in time. Besides,the only cases that would fulfil the requirements of democracy, according to thisstrategy, would be those of electoral system change. Some further arguments arepresented when the case of Mauritius is discussed.Electoral system choice in democratic countries is also studied separately.Needless to say, elections in democratic countries are normally considered moreimportant than elections in non-democratic countries. Accordingly, electoralsystem choice is of greater importance in countries that allow multi-partycompetition. If all candidates in an election belong to the same political party, seatallocation is only concerned with who is elected and who is not. A proportionalsystem is not needed, since no seat allocation between political parties takes place.However, all non-democratic countries are not authoritarian one-party states –30 A plurality system has been used ever since the first elections.147