The Reform of Latvia Electoral System and the Experience of Germany
2014
Gunars Ozolzile

The trust in the institutions of political systems, especially political parties in Latvia is one of the lowest in the European Union. One of the causes of the low trust level is the electoral system, which doesn’t encourage the connection between the deputies and the voters or the responsibility un front of them. The goal of this article is to explore the further possibilities of consolidations of democracy in Latvia by reforming the proportional electoral system.To achieve the set goal, firstly, some of the problems in Latvia’s electoral system are analysed, of which one of the causes also is the electoral system. Secondly, analysis of some of the newest Latvias electoral system reformation offers is done. Thirdly, to evaluate the possibilities and directions of reformation of the electoral system, the structure of electoral system in Germany, the reguralities of functioning and the recent changes are researched. The conclusions are made that the German mixed electoral system has been created with the goal to integrate the personal factor into it and to strengthen the link between the voters and deputies, at the same time maintaining the central place of the proportionality principle in this system. Thinking about the possibilities of reforming the electoral system of Latvia, special interest is raised by the domination of the proportionality principle, because taking a similar path like in Germany, our electoral system can be reformed without altering the constitution.


Keywords
democracy, consolidation, reform, electoral system

Ozolzile, G. The Reform of Latvia Electoral System and the Experience of Germany. The Humanities and Social Sciences. Vol.22, 2014, pp.69-74. ISSN 1407-9291. e-ISSN 2255-8543.

Publication language
Latvian (lv)
The Scientific Library of the Riga Technical University.
E-mail: uzzinas@rtu.lv; Phone: +371 28399196