By Marina Fernández de Paz, Contributing Writer
Election season in the United States yielded much press attention, great debates, and aggressive campaigns by both the Democrats and Republicans.
Such an intense system catches the public and media’s eyes but begs the question: how do other countries conduct elections? What can we learn from how they vote? Let’s peek at how diverse elections around the world are.
American elections often happen to be highly mediatized, with extensive campaigns and debates that capture the interest of both citizens and the mass media. However, in other nations, the process may be simpler or have different approaches.
For example, in Spain, the electoral process is parliamentary in nature, and elections tend to be less polarized than in the United States. Major parties include the center-left, Partido Socialista Obrero Español, and the center-right, Partido Popular.
Along with several other significant parties on both sides, such as Podemos on the left and Vox on the right, this results in a multi-party-political system. While in the United States, the composition of Parliament is determined through elections to Congress and the Senate, from which emerges the President of the Government.
On the other hand, in countries such as Germany or the United Kingdom, we also see a multi-party system that allows citizens to have greater visibility of diverse ideologies. This means that there are not only two dominant parties (as in the United States), which generates less polarization between left and right. Also, in most European countries, voting is compulsory, which increases citizen participation.
Some similarities between the U.S. and Spanish electoral systems are that both have democratic systems where the citizens elect their representatives by vote. Also, both countries share some common traits in the regular holding of elections in a preestablished calendar, the regular running of presidential elections every four years in the United States, and general elections every four years to Congress and Senate in Spain.
Some differences between the U.S. and Spanish electoral systems are that in the U.S. they have a two-party system; either you vote for the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. While Spain has a multi-party system with several political parties, which leaves citizens with more options, allowing for a greater diversity of ideologies.
“In Italy, we definitely have more diversity of parties, giving more choices to voters, which facilitates that there is less polarization compared to a system of only two parties,” says Ilaria, a freshman at Saint Leo majoring in biology.
“The right to vote is attained at the age of 18, allowing young people to participate, and both countries hold elections every four years. Also, voting is not mandatory, which gives freedom to each citizen to decide whether to participate or not,” she explains. Yet in Italy, many people see it as a civil duty and feel a responsibility to vote.
The media in the United States have a strong presence and hold a central role in influencing politics. In the rest of the countries, such as Spain, the media are also present but somehow more moderate; however, comparing to U.S. media, this influences the way in which its citizens view politics.
The search for electoral systems around the world indicates not only how elections work, but also how they reflect the values and priorities of each society. Whether it is the intense media campaigns in the United States, the variety of parties in Spain or compulsory voting in Germany, these differences show us that democracy is far from one-size-fits-all.
The methods of each of these countries offer lessons on how to improve participation, reduce polarization, and make elections more inclusive. So next time you go to the polls, take a moment to reflect: how does your vote shape the future, and what can we learn from the world to improve elections?
