The Politics of Electoral Reform

Abstract

Changing electoral systems is not easy. Politicians have difficulty modifying the current system under which they have been elected. Large transitional costs accompany a shift from one system to another, politicians will need to invest in new campaigning; and a new system will introduce uncertainty about their electoral prospects and may even endanger their reelection. Some politicians may support electoral reform, if another system appears to serve their goals better or if they believe in its correctness as a policy. But even then, they will need to overcome the transaction costs of securing a legislative majority for reform; pro-reformers will need to override opposition by many others who see no increased benefits in the new system and oppose reform. Further, agreement on one particular system is difficult as different electoral needs will lead politicians to advocate different systems.¹ Drastic reform, thus, may take place more often than not under a threat of civil war as in Costa Rica in 1946 or pressure of a military defeat (Lehoucq, 1995).