NationStates Jolt Archive

The writers of the most recent constitution of the Czech Republic have made quite a rookie mistake.

The recent legislative election has created a deadlock, the Chamber of Deputies, a house of 200 has been filled by 100 of one bloc, and 100 of another. The rookie mistake, it's an even number! C'mon guys! An even number is just asking for this sort of thing, and this has been known for centuries.

Hell, for the case of a multi-party democracy you would probably be best of having a legislature with a prime numbered amount of seats, don't round it up, that's just asking for trouble!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5039672.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_legislative_election%2C_2006

So? Parlement in Holland has 150 seats, so every coalition has to have 76 seats in total.

The UK Parliament has 646 seats. Another even number for another legislature

The writers of the most recent constitution of the Czech Republic have made quite a rookie mistake.

The recent legislative election has created a deadlock, the Chamber of Deputies, a house of 200 has been filled by 100 of one bloc, and 100 of another. The rookie mistake, it's an even number! C'mon guys! An even number is just asking for this sort of thing, and this has been known for centuries.

Hell, for the case of a multi-party democracy you would probably be best of having a legislature with a prime numbered amount of seats, don't round it up, that's just asking for trouble!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5039672.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_legislative_election%2C_2006

This is where politics comes into play.

The writers of the most recent constitution of the Czech Republic have made quite a rookie mistake.

The recent legislative election has created a deadlock, the Chamber of Deputies, a house of 200 has been filled by 100 of one bloc, and 100 of another. The rookie mistake, it's an even number! C'mon guys! An even number is just asking for this sort of thing, and this has been known for centuries.

Hell, for the case of a multi-party democracy you would probably be best of having a legislature with a prime numbered amount of seats, don't round it up, that's just asking for trouble!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5039672.stm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_legislative_election%2C_2006
100 voting members of the senate...

100 voting members of the senate...

But there, the vice president can decide ties, if I recall my US civics class correctly.

All of the examples mentioned have some kind of 'patch-up' for the problem. The Dutch system has a quorum, America has the VP thrown in there, etc. But as far as I can see, Czesko is in a bit of a predicament here.

All of the examples mentioned have some kind of 'patch-up' for the problem. The Dutch system has a quorum, America has the VP thrown in there, etc. But as far as I can see, Czesko is in a bit of a predicament here.
We don't have a quorum but if you don't have a majority, it gets a bit hard to rule the country,:p

And one opportunistic politician will strike a deal with the opposition party, and then become incredibly powerful through holding the balance of power. Meh.

And one opportunistic politician will strike a deal with the opposition party, and then become incredibly powerful through holding the balance of power. Meh.
Yeah, doesn't this undermine strict partisanship by encouraging politicians to make their own deals which would require them to think about the issues -- or at least about who to take their bribes from? And in a multiparty system I could see where it would give greater importance to the minority parties. So what if there's occasional gridlock? If nothing else, elections will break that up.

But there, the vice president can decide ties, if I recall my US civics class correctly.

A bottle of his favorite booze for Fass. Got it on one, in the case of a tie in the US Senate, the Vice Pres gets to make the final vote.