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schooling in 1996 and 2001. But these numbers went down drastically in 2011. While more people now pursue their education up to grade 12 – the number of people pursuing education beyond high school is still low though it has improved gradually over the years across the province (Stats SA, 2011: 23).
Figure 10: Official unemployment rate by district municipality 1996, 2001, and 2011
Source: Statistics South Africa (2011: 26).
Figure 9 shows a record of the trends in the rate of unemployment in the province’s districts.
The general trend shows that all the districts witnessed highest unemployment rates in 2001 with an average of 49 percent which was a 10 percentage point increase from an average of 39 percent in 1996. Unemployment rate declined sharply in 2011 to an average of 33 percent.
Generally, provinces with a lower unemployment rate are likely to have higher rates of participation in the elections. This is because a lower unemployment rate reflects a strong economy and implies that people have decent if not high incomes and therefore may have a direct interest in government policy and elections (Hansen, Palfrey and Rosenthal, 1987: 17;
See also Brady et al, 1995: 273-6).
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criteria, the most common ones include representation, participation, government effectiveness, fairness and inclusiveness, and accountability (Kersting, 2006: 136-8; Norris, 1997: 304-6; Reynolds et al, 2008: 9-15).
It is impossible for an electoral system to address all these criteria. Oftentimes electoral engineers engage in a series of trade-offs accommodating criteria in order of their importance (Reynolds et al, 2008: 9). For example a majoritarian or FPTP system emphasises accountability and government effectiveness but seems to neglect representation, inclusiveness and fairness. Advocates of the PR system are usually concerned with and seek to promote attributes like inclusive representation, participation and fairness to minor parties while neglecting other attributes such as government effectiveness and accountability (Barone and de Blasio, 2011: 6). A mixed system tries to balance the attributes of the PR and the FPTP systems by merging the mechanics of both systems in ballot structuring and seat allocation processes. The choice of the electoral system is determined by and reflects on the historical, social and political circumstances of the society in question. This section discusses some of the aforementioned criteria with a view to understanding why they are vital for the credibility of an electoral system.
3.12.1 Representativeness
Equal and balanced representation is essential for democracy to thrive. Electoral systems should be designed in such a way as to avoid the over-representation or under-representation of some groups in society (Norris, 1997: 298-299; Kersting, 2006:137). All groups in the society should be adequately represented according to gender, class, race, age and ethnicity.
A representative electoral regime ensures that the votes of people belonging to minority groups or support small parties are not overshadowed by the large parties. For example the FPTP system tends to be biased towards the large parties due to its high threshold of representation to the detriment of smaller parties. PR systems on the other hand tend to give smaller and minority parties a chance to gain representation due to a lower threshold and a more proportional system of seat allocation (Blais and Aarts, 2006:184).
3.12.2 Government effectiveness and accountability
Accountability of the elected to the electors is central to an effective and efficient democratic system. One of the main criteria against which the quality of the electoral system is evaluated is the ability to produce accountable and responsive governments (Norris, 1997: 304).
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Majoritarian systems often produce an outright winner in the elections and one party gets to form the government. This is unlike the PR systems in which coalition governments are more common as parties fail to get the absolute majority of votes required to form government (Shugart, 2001: 174-175).
Parties in PR systems resort to forming coalition governments in which the parties frequently disagree on policy and thus negatively affects government’s responsiveness and effectiveness (Jackman, 1987: 408). In coalition governments, blame is easily shifted about making it difficult to hold government accountable. Moreover, FPTP systems encourage politicians to be answerable directly to the voters in their constituencies as they are elected directly by the voters. In the PR systems, however, politicians are elected not on an individual basis but through the party they belong to (Barone and de Blasio, 2011: 17). Under such a set-up, politicians do not have particular constituencies and are more accountable to their party than to the voters. With this in mind, it is important that electoral engineers consider how the electoral system will enhance accountability, effectiveness and responsiveness on the part of the government (Norris, 1997: 304-306).
3.12.3 Making elections more accessible and inclusive
This attribute is inextricably linked to the representativeness and accountability criteria.
Elections are not meaningful unless they are accessible to every citizen and inclusive of all political parties and groups in the society. Making elections more accessible and inclusive can significantly encourage electoral participation among the electorate which is crucial for a strong democracy. Accessibility of elections can be enhanced through designing a simple and transparent electoral system which voters may find easy to understand and trust.
A simple system means that voters can understand what impact their votes can have on the outcome of the election and therefore is a powerful incentive to participate in the elections.
Kersting (2006: 138) argues that an accessible and simple electoral process is important in relation to the legitimacy of the government and the political system in general. PR systems are generally associated with higher turnout and make the elections more accessible to a wider spectrum of citizens and political parties as well. FPTP systems marginalise small parties, narrow the choices available to the voters and therefore undermine the accessibility of elections through reducing options available to the voters (Blais and Aarts, 2006: 184-185;
See also Grofman and Selby, 2011: 94-96).
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