Delimitation Equity Project - Resource Guide

Author: Lisa Hanley, Jeremy Grace, Peter Schrott, Horacio Boneo, Ron Johnson, Michael Maley, Alan McRobie, Charles Pattie, David Rossite
Date of Publication: 05/01/2006

Description/Summary

Countries that delimit electoral districts must designate an entity to carry out this task and a set of rules for this body to follow when engaged in the delimitation process. The task assigned to the boundary authority is the same in all countries: divide the country into constituencies for the purpose of electing legislative representatives to office. The type of boundary authority established and the rules this authority is obliged to follow, however, vary markedly across countries. Few international standards have been proposed to guide the delimitation process. One reason for this lack of international standards has been the absence of any comprehensive comparative study of existing delimitation laws and practices.

Although many studies have been devoted to examining electoral systems – their nature, causes, and consequences – and at least one recent book, Establishing the Rules of the Game: Election Laws in Democracies,1 offers an excellent comparative survey of other basic dimensions of electoral law (i.e., who has the right to vote and to be a candidate, who conducts the election and who counts the votes and resolves electoral conflicts), there has been no systematic, comparative study of constituency delimitation laws and practices conducted to date. This study attempts to rectify the deficit.

Related Programs

CTPCG (the Center)

Related Regions

Global