VARIETIES OF NATIONAL PARTY SYSTEMS

(See Table 1.4 and Mair, Chapter 4 in CD2)

United States: Two longstanding “big” parties plus usually insignificant minor parties

Closed-convergent/wholesale alternation (but frequent “divided government”)

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2000

Candidate Party No. of votes Vote % (Vt %)² EV EV % (EV %)²

Albert Gore Jr. Democratic 51,003,238 .4838 .2341 267 .4963 .2463

George W. Bush Republican 50,459,624 .4787 .2292 271 .5037 .2537

Ralph Nader Green 2,882,985 .0274 .0007 0 .0000 .0000

Patrick Buchanan Reform 449,120 .0043 .0000 0 .0000 .0000

Harry Browne Libertarian 384,440 .0036 .0000 0 .0000 .0000

All others 232,922 .0022 .0000 0 .0000 .0000

Sum of (Vote prop.)² = .4703 Reciprocal = Effective N of Electoral Parties = 2.126

Sum of (EV prop.)² = .50003 Reciprocal = Effective N of Assembly Parties = 1.9999

CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION OF 2000

Party No. of votes Vote % (Vt %)² S S % (S% )²

House Democratic 46,541,572 .4990 .2490 222 .5103 .2605

" Republican 46,731,446 .5010 .2510 211 .4851 .2353

Other Scattered 2 .5000 .2500

Senate Democratic 36,788,222 .5004 .2504 50 .5000 .2500

" Republican 36,729,792 .4996 .2496 50 .5000 .2500

Other Scattered 0

House: Sum of (Vote prop.)² = .5000 Effective N of Electoral Parties = 2.0000

Sum of (Seat prop.)² = .4958 Effective N of Assembly Parties = 2.0169

Senate: Sum of (Vote prop.)² = .5000 Effective N of Electoral Parties = 2.0000

Sum of (Seat prop.)² = .5000 Effective N of Assembly Parties = 2.0000

See Federal Election Commission (http://www.fec.gov/pubrec/fe2000/cover.htm)

Britain: Two longstanding major parties plus one minor party plus “nationalist” parties

Closed-convergent/wholesale alternation (but possibility of “hung parliament”)

Tories ⇒ Conservative Party (right)

Whigs ⇒ Liberal Party ⇒ SPD Alliance ⇒ Liberal Democrats (center left)

Labour Representation Committee ⇒ Labour Party (left)

Nationalist parties (Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales)

The effective number of UK (electoral and assembly) parties in 2001

vote shares squared seats seat shares squared

Labour .407 .1656 412 .627 .393

Conservative .317 .1005 166 .253 .064

Liberal Democrats .183 .0335 52 .079 .006

SNP .018 .0003 5 .008 .001

UKIndependence .015 .0002 0 .000 .000

Ulster Unionist .008 .0001 6 .009 .001

Plaid Cymru .007 .0000 4 .006 .000

Dem. Unionist .007 .0000 5 .008 .001

Sinn Fein .007 .0000 3 .005 .000

SDLP .006 .0000 3 .005 .000

Greens .006 .0000 0 .000 .000

Total 1.00 .3002 656 1.00 .466

1/total squared N^ef_V = 3.85 N^ef_S = 2.16

See http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/United-Kingdom-general-elections

Italy: One major party plus many smaller parties plus one or two “anti-system” parties

(pre-1990) Closed-polarized/partial or non-alternation

Communist Party (far left)

Socialist Party (left)

Social Democratic Party (moderate left)

Republican Party (moderate left)

Christian Democratic Party (center)

Liberal Party (moderate right [but anti-clerical])

Monarchist Party (right)

MSI (far right, neo-fascist)

(since 1990) Two major alliances (center left and center right)

Closed-convergent/wholesale alternation

Canada: Prior to 1993: two longstanding “big” parties plus minor and/or /regional parties

closed-convergent/wholesale alternation

Liberal Party (center left)

Progressive Conservative Party (center right)

CCF ⇒ New Democratic Party (left)

Social Credit Party (right/populist)

Reform Party (right/populist [1993]

Parti/Bloc Quebecois (separatist)

The effective number of Canadian (electoral and assembly) parties in 1993:

vote shares squared seats seat shares squared

Lib. .42 .17 177 .60 .36

BQ .14 .02 54 .18 .03

Ref. .18 .03 52 .18 .03

NDP .07 .01 9 .03 .00

PC .16 .03 2 .01 .00

Other .04 .00 1 .00 .00

Total 1.00 .26 295 1.00 .46

1/total squared N^ef_V = 3.85 N^ef_S = 2.17

Since 1993, a new Conservative Party has formed. The effective number of Canadian (electoral and assembly) parties in 2004:

vote shares squared seats seat shares squared

Lib. .367 .135 135 .438 .192

Con. .296 .088 98 .318 .101

BQ .124 .015 54 .175 .031

NDP .157 .025 20 .065 .004

Other .043 .002 1 .000 .000

Total 1.000 .265 308 1.000 .328

1/total squared N^ef_V = 3.77 N^ef_S = 3.05

See http://www.nodice.ca/election2004/electionresults.html

Israel: Two semi-major parties plus many minor parties

Semi-closed and somewhat polarized / partial alternation

Labour (center left)

Likud (center right)

National Religious Party

Shas (religious)

Meretz (center left/secular)

Arab Democratic Party

many other

ELECTIONS IN ISRAEL JANUARY 2003:

Final Results of Elections to the 16th Knesset

Voting statistics:

Total number of ballot boxes counted: 7,697

Total number of registered voters: 4,720,074

Total Ballots: 3,200,773

Invalid Ballots: 52,409

Valid Ballots: 3,148,364

Number of votes for qualifying threshold: 44,750

Number of votes per Knesset seat: 23,860

Votes by party list:

Party List No. of votes Vote prop. (Vote prop.)² Seats Seat pr. (Seat pr.)²

Likud 925,279 .294 .084 38 .316 .100

Labor 455,183 .145 .021 19 .158 .025

Shinui 386,535 .123 .015 15 .125 .016

Shas 258,879 .082 .007 11 .092 .008

National Unity 173,973 .055 .003 7 .058 .003

Meretz 164,122 .052 .003 6 .050 .003

Torah and Shabbat 135,087 .043 .002 6 .050 .002

National Religious 132,370 .042 .002 5 .042 .002

Hadash 93,819 .030 .001 4 .033 .001

Am Ehad 86,808 .028 .001 4 .033 .001

Balad 71,299 .023 .001 3 .025 .001

Yisrael Ba'aliya 67,719 .022 .000 2 .017 .000

United Arab List 65,551 .021 .000 2 .017 .000

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Green Leaf Party 37,855 .011 .000 0 .000 .000

Herut 36,202 .010 Sum of (Vote prop.)² = .140

Prog Nat. Alliance 20,571 .007

Green Party 12,833 .004 Effective N of Electoral Parties = 7.14

Yisrael Aheret 7,144 .002

Ahavat Yisrael 5,468 .002

Tzomet 2,023 .001

Center Party 1,961 .001

Org for Dem. Action 1,925 .001 Sum of (Seat prop.)² = .162

Citizen and State 1,566 .000

Men's Rights in Family 1,284 .000 Effective N of Assembly Parties = 6.17

Lahava 1,181 .000

Za'am 894 .000

Leeder 833 .000

Germany: Two major parties plus one or two minor parties

Mostly closed-convergent / partial to wholesale alternation

Christian Democratic Union (CDU/CSU) (center right)

Social Democratic Party (SPD) (left)

Free Democratic Party (FDP) (center)

Green Party (left)

Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) (far left)

National Democratic Party (NDP)/Republican Party (right)

Scandinavia: One major left party plus several smaller right and center parties

Closed-convergent / partial to wholesale alternation)

Social Democratic/Labour parties (left)

"bourgeois" [Conservative, Moderate, Liberal, Agrarian, Christian, Center] parties (center right)

"anti-tax" parties (populist right)

Communists and/or Left Socialists parties

France: Clear Left vs. Right alliances

Fairly open and mildly polarized/wholesale alternation (but possible “cohabitation”)

Communist Party (far left)

Socialist Party (left)

Independent Republicans/MRP (center right)

Union For French Democracy (center right)

Gaullists/Rally for Republic (right)

Poujadists/National Front (far right)

India: One and a half major parties plus many minor parties

Open-somewhat convergent / non-alternation to partial alternation)

Congress (I)

Bharatiya Janata

Janata Dal

many others

Mexico: One longstanding dominant party and two challenging parties

Open-convergent (since 2000)

Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) (center left)

National Action Party (PAN) (right)

Party of Democratic Revolution (PRD) (left)