Chapter 6 Multiple choice questions

. In European Parliament elections, what are the rules countries have to follow concerning their electoral system?

They have to use the electoral system they use for national elections.

The election has to use a majoritarian system.

The election has to use a proportional system.

The election can use any system the country wants.

. Which of the following electoral systems is NOT considered a "proportional" system

First-Past-the-Post

Single Transferable Vote

Open List

Flexible List

. Which of the following is NOT a type of referendum used in Europe?

Abrogative referendum

Consultative referendum

War referendum

Citizens' initiative

. Which of the following is NOT true about mandatory constitutional referendums?

Their result is binding.

The referendum question is formulated by the government.

They are required for changes that affect the constitution.

They are normally triggered by citizens through a petition.

. Which of the following statements about single transferable vote (STV, also known as Alternate Vote) electoral systems is FALSE?

Versions of STV are used in Ireland and Malta.

STV forces voters to express a preference for only one candidate.

STV reduces the likelihood voters feel they have wasted their vote by casting a ballot for a hopeless candidate.

STV can lead to proportional outcomes and multiparty systems when combined with large district magnitudes.

. Which of the following statements about EU-related referendums is FALSE?

To ratify the Constitutional Treaty in 2005, all member states had to hold referendums.

The Constitutional Treaty did not pass the referendums in France and the Netherlands.

Due to referendums, Norway, Switzerland and the UK are not members of the EU.

Denmark first rejected the Maastricht treated in 1992 in a referendum.

. In which of the following situations would we expect the effective number of parties to increase the most?

A majoritarian system decreases the number of districts.

A proportional system decreases district magnitude.

A new party is formed in a majoritarian system.

A new societal issue emerges in a proportional representation system with high district magnitude.

. Boix argues that proportional representation systems emerged due to a threat to conservative parties. Which threat does he mean?

Socialist forces were threatening to overturn the system if no concessions were made.

Conservative parties were worried that single member district elections could be stolen too easily in regions with many liberal voters.

Socialist politicians were threatening to reveal corruption in the ranks of the liberal party.

When suffrage was extended, Conservative parties feared that the median voter would move to the left and socialist parties would pick up many seats in a First-Past-the-Post election.

. Which of the following countries has NOT seen electoral system change since 1991?

Bulgaria

Germany

Hungary

Italy

. An electoral system will be more proportional if:

It has a high threshold that parties must cross to win seats in parliament.

It has a majoritarian electoral system, such as plurality SMD.

It has large district magnitudes.

It uses single member districts and run-off elections.

Quiz Content