DEMOCRACY AND THE PERSONAL VOTE - A CAUTIONARY TALE FROM JAPAN

The debate on the merits of various electoral systems focuses primaril y, and properly, on the relationship between a party's percentage of t he vote and its percentage of the seats. The choice between proportion al systems and systems that purposefully reduce the number of parties mirror two basically different theories of democracy: the consensus an d the majoritarian. However, a second dimension needs also to be consi dered-the degree to which the electoral system produces incentives to create candidate, as opposed to party, support. Japan presents us with an electoral system that is medium' on the consensus versus majoritar ian dimension, but produces extremely strong incentives for candidates to rely on their personal vote. Both dimensions have serious implicat ions for the quality of democracy.