Jairo Nicolau

Impact of Electronic Voting Machines on Blank Votes and Null Votes in Brazilian Elections in 1998

Electronic voting machines were used for the first time in general elections in Brazil in 1998; in that year, some cities used this new voting method, while others continued to vote using paper ballots. Few studies have demonstrated that the rate of invalid votes for federal deputy was significantly lower in cities that used electronic voting machines. This article analyzes the frequency of null votes and blank votes for four posts—federal deputy, state deputy, the president and governor. Based on a comparison of the results from the 1998 elections with the results from previous elections (1994), the article demonstrates that electronic voting machines reduced the percentage of blank votes for federal deputy, state deputies, the president and governor. Meanwhile, null votes reduced the competition for the posts of federal deputy and state deputy; however, it increased the competition for posts with greater visibility in the Brazilian political system: the governor and president.

The Brazilian Electoral System

The article by Jairo Nicolau and Julia Stadler presents the electoral system which is closely associated with how the executive and the legislative powers operate. The Brazilian system of open list proportional representation has often been characterized as a major political and institutional barrier and accordingly stood in the center of the frequently discussed extensive political reform (reforma politica). The article is an introduction to the complexity of the Brazilian electoral system and explains its most important rules, system components and the main reform approaches since the 1988 Constitution. According to the authors, the debate about the need for a comprehensive reform is as old as the system itself and is demanded by representatives across the entire political spectrum. Neither Cardoso nor Lula or Rousseff tackled the reform. Nonetheless, the authors conclude that the absence of this reform should not be understood as an inability to reform.

Das brasilianische Wahlsystem

Das Wahlsystem ist eine der komplexesten Komponenten eines politischen Systems. Zahlreiche Theorien setzen sich mit den Effekten unterschiedlicher Typen von Wahlsystemen auseinander, insbesondere mit moglichen Effekten auf das Parteiensystem (Rae 1967, Grofman & Lijphard1986, Nohlen 1984, 2007). Die Konsequenz ist, dass die technische Ausgestaltung von Wahlsystemen, sei dies in der ersten Konzeptionalisierung oder im Reformprozess, gut durchdacht sein sollte: Proporz- oder Majorzsystem; welches ist das zweckmasigste und gerechteste Zahlverfahren; soll die Stimme an Parteien oder an Kandidaten vergeben werden? Aber diese technischen Fragen stehen hinter politischen Fragen an: wer hat welche Vorteile durch das eine oder andere Wahlsystem und wer lauft Gefahr nicht gewahlt zu werden? Wer hat demnach Interesse an einer Reform und wer hat die parlamentarische Mehrheit, um diese durchzusetzen bzw. zu verhindern? In anderen Worten: Das Wahlsystem ist Gegenstand grundlegender politischer Interessen, oder wie Sartori sagt, „the most specific manipulative instrument of politics“ (1968: 273).