Re: OT: For information only !
| From: | Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...> |
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| Date: | Monday, June 14, 2004, 20:15 |
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On Mon, Jun 14, 2004 at 09:38:33PM +0200, Christophe Grandsire wrote:
> En réponse à Tristan Mc Leay :
>
>
> >One thing I don't get is why the French do their elections proper in two
> >rounds.
>
> Because most elections (at least those that require electing a single
> person) require an absolute majority (i.e. 50% of the valid votes + 1) to
> be decided.
Right. USA elections are precisely the same way. If nobody gets
a simple majority of the votes the first round, there is a "run-off"
election between the candidates with the two greatest totals; you can't
win with a simple plurality. However, given that we effectively have a
two-party system here, one of the candidates from those parties usually
does get the majority in the first round, obviating the run-off.
-Mark
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