Comparative Study of Electoral Systems in European Countries

The quality of political representation depends on technical issues such as the electoral system, the party system and the formation of government. However, to convert the popular vote into representation in the parliaments or other elected institutions is the electoral system, it influences the functioning of the party system, resulting by default the characteristics and stability of governments. The design of the existing electoral system in each country is the result of culture, tradition and religion existing in that state. Along with the attempt to achieve an analysis of electoral systems practiced in legislative elections in countries covered by this study, it is noted that proportional representation is the dominant feature in the electoral processes in Europe. Also, through the achieved study it was found that the establishment of constituencies is committed differently in each European country, this fact being based on administrative units, elctorale units grounded on ethnic or linguistic criteria.