Electoral institutions, partisan status, and political support in Lesotho

Cho, Wonbin; Bratton, Michaël

doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2005.12.001

Cited by 30 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Other scholars, in contrast, argue that constituency systems facilitate higher levels of satisfaction among citizens for the state and the regime, since under such systems voters have greater choice through their vote, which serves to strengthen the link between voters and the elected (Norris 1999, Farrell andMcAllister 2006). Cho (2005) refined this debate by adding the distinction between winning and losing citizens. Using the Lesotho electoral reform as a case study, Cho (2005) has shown that citizens on the losing side (opposition supporters) were more satisfied with the country's state and regime following the electoral reform.…”

Section: Parliaments In the Context Of Dominant Partiesmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…Cho (2005) refined this debate by adding the distinction between winning and losing citizens. Using the Lesotho electoral reform as a case study, Cho (2005) has shown that citizens on the losing side (opposition supporters) were more satisfied with the country's state and regime following the electoral reform. The Lesotho election of 2002 gave the opposition 40 parliamentary seats, which under the previous constituency system would not have been possible.…”

Section: Parliaments In the Context Of Dominant Partiesmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Parliaments in Africa: Representative Institutions in the Land of the ‘Big Man’

Azevedo-Harman

2011

The Journal of Legislative Studies

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This paper analyses the perceptions among survey participants, of African parliaments and presidents and examines their citizens' attitudes towards the coexistence of these two institutions. It aims to determine the way citizens rate their parliaments compared with their presidents. It further seeks to answer the question of whether Africa remains the continent of the 'big man', where absolute power lies with an individual, feeding clientelistic relationships. In the decades following the transitions to independence, most of the continent was marked by a proliferation of monoparty regimes; in many cases, these were almost one-man regimes. A majority of the leaders symbolised, at an early stage of independence, the birth of the nation itself. Many times these presidents have sought to extend their incumbency perpetually. However, over the last two decades this scenario has changed considerably. Monoparty parliaments have been replaced by multiparty parliaments and executives, and presidents have found themselves needing to share their leadership of the nation with parliamentarians. Not much is known about how these emerging parliaments have been operating, but the little that is known tells us that they have faced a lack of institutionalisation and still struggle to assert their independence from strong executives. It is therefore reasonable to expect that parliaments will be perceived as dormant institutions in the public eye.

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Section: Parliaments In the Context Of Dominant Partiesmentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Parliaments In the Context Of Dominant Partiesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Parliaments in Africa: Representative Institutions in the Land of the ‘Big Man’

Azevedo-Harman

2011

The Journal of Legislative Studies

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“…14 Cho and Bratton (2005) find support for the government increased after instituting a mixed system in Lesotho. 15 Partisan differences mediated these perceptions, with supporters of parties who performed better post-reform more supportive of the government and democracy in general than supporters of parties whose electoral position worsened. Esaisson (2010) showed a disparity in satisfaction with democracy between winners and losers in three mixed systems: Germany (1998), New Zealand (1999 and2002) and Bulgaria (1990).…”

Section: Losers' Consentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…9 Electoral systems do not have a uniform effect on public attitudes as the system in large part determines winners and losers. 10 The perceptions of political winners are certainly important, yet one cannot risk ignoring the perceptions of those who lose in elections, as "losers' consent" in accepting the outcome and the policies that follow is critical to democratic viability. 11 Support of democratic principles is crucial in systems where the losers have been consistently out of power.…”

Section: Losers' Consentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Losers Consent in Mixed Systems: Public Perceptions of Taiwan’s 2008 Legislative Yuan Election

Rich¹

2016

J. Contemp. East. Asia

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Elections are the foundation of representative democracy. Partisan differences in opinion naturally arise, yet until recently, few researchers analyzed the perceptions of democratic quality between those who win versus those who lose out in electoral competition. Losers' consent remains crucial for democratic stability and the variance in perceptions between winners and losers provides a means to assess the stability in democracies young and old. Despite the insight from this growing literature, researchers continue to focus primarily on Western democracies. Furthermore, what constitutes a winner requires greater clarity, particularly in mixed legislative system elections where voters choose both a district candidate and a party list. This paper intends to extend our understanding of losers' consent through a multilevel conception of electoral success, a conception more in tune with the dynamics of mixed systems.By definition mixed legislative systems employ at least two mechanisms to allocate seats in one chamber of a legislature. Most of these combinations are single member districts (SMDs) like those in the United States and United Kingdom, combined with seats by proportional representation (PR) allocated at the national or provincial level.1 Mixed systems were a rarity prior to 1990 with Germany as the only democracy to consistently employ a mixed legislative system. Since 1990 however, mixed systems have arisen in East and Southeast Asia, the former communist world, Latin America, Africa, and New Zealand. Just as pure PR systems were the electoral system of choice in the twentieth century, mixed systems have the potential to proliferate in a similar

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“…McCartney 1973;Gumbi 1995;Olaleye 2004;Cho and Bratton 2006). Despite challenges in establishing democratic roots post-independence (Makoa 2004), even in the absence of religious tension or ethnic divisions (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lesotho’s 2015 Legislative Election: Providing or Undermining Stability?

Banerjee

Rich

2015

Journal of Asian and African Studies

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Abstract:Political unrest in 2014 threatened Lesotho's newly found democratic stability. Observers focus on educating the public about the electoral system and encouraging pre-election coalition discussions. However, this analysis suggests this ignores the institutional influences of Lesotho's electoral system that undermine both public understanding and stability. Furthermore, a statistical analysis of district competition finds the 2015 elections to be largely consistent with previous elections, but that the percentage of rejected ballots correlates with a district victory for the largest party. Although this may simply be a statistical anomaly, the findings highlight structural challenges and reconsideration of electoral reforms.

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Electoral institutions, partisan status, and political support in Lesotho

Cited by 30 publications

References 19 publications

Parliaments in Africa: Representative Institutions in the Land of the ‘Big Man’

Parliaments in Africa: Representative Institutions in the Land of the ‘Big Man’

Assessing Losers Consent in Mixed Systems: Public Perceptions of Taiwan’s 2008 Legislative Yuan Election

Lesotho’s 2015 Legislative Election: Providing or Undermining Stability?

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