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An
election is a decision making process where people choose people
to hold official offices. This is the usual mechanism by which modern
democracy fills offices in the legislature, and sometimes in the
executive and judiciary, and in regional and local government. This
is also typically the case in a wide range of other private and
business organizations, from clubs to voluntary associations and
corporations.
The universal acceptance of elections
as a tool for selecting representatives in modern democracies is
in sharp contrast with the practice in the democratic archetype,
ancient Athens, where elections were considered an oligarchic institution
and where most political offices were filled using sortition, also
known as allotment.
Electoral reform describes the process
of introducing fair electoral systems where they are not in place,
or improving the fairness or effectiveness of existing systems.
Psephology is the study of results and other statistics relating
to elections.
In most democratic political systems, there are a range of different
types of election, corresponding to different layers of public governance
or geographical jurisdiction. Some common types of election are:
Presidential election
General election
Primary election
By-election
Local election
Co-option
A referendum (plural referenda or referendums) is a democratic tool
related to elections in which the electorate votes for or against
a specific proposal, law or policy, rather than for a general policy
or a particular candidate or party. Referendums may be added to
an election ballot or held separately and may be either binding
or consultative, usually depending on the constitution. Referendums
are usually called by governments via the legislature, however many
democracies allow citizens to petition for referendums directly,
called initiatives. Referendums are particularly prevalent and important
in direct democracies, such as Switzerland. The basic Swiss system,
however, still works with representatives. In the most direct form
of democracy, anyone can vote about anything. This is closely related
to referendums and may take the form of consensus decision-making.
Reminiscent of the ancient Greek system, anyone may discuss a particular
subject until a consensus is reached. The consensus requirement
means that discussions can go on for a very long time. The result
will be that only those who are genuinely interested will participate
in the discussion and therefore the vote. In this system there need
not be an age limit because children will usually become bored.
This system is however only feasible when implemented on a very
small scale.
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