The two-round system (also known as the second ballot, runoff voting or ballotage) is a voting system used to elect a single winner where the voter casts a single vote for their chosen candidate. However, if no candidate receives the required number of votes (usually an absolute majority or 40-45% with a winning margin of 5-15%), then those candidates having less than a certain proportion of the votes, or all but the two candidates receiving the most votes, are eliminated, and a second round of voting occurs.
The two round system is used around the world for the election of legislative bodies and directly elected presidents. For example, it is used in French presidential, legislative, and cantonal elections, and also to elect the presidents of Afghanistan, Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Finland, France, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Liberia, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Senegal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Timor-Leste, Ukraine, Uruguay, Zimbabwe —see: Table of voting systems by nation. Historically it was used in the German Empire of 1871-1918, and in New Zealand in the 1908 and 1911 elections.
Read more about Two-round System: Terminology, Voting and Counting, Compliance With Voting System Criteria, Tactical Voting and Strategic Nomination, Impact On Factions and Candidates, Majoritarianism, Practical Implications
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... One of the strongest criticisms against the two-round voting system is the cost required to conduct two ballots ... The two-round voting system also has the potential to cause political instability between the two rounds of voting, adding further to the economic impact of ... Under an instant run-off ballot system there is only one round ...
... A probable example of the two-round system's failing this criterion was the 1991 Louisiana gubernatorial election ...
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“Authority is the spiritual dimension of power because it depends upon faith in a system of meaning that decrees the necessity of the hierarchical order and so provides for the unity of imperative control.”
—Shoshana Zuboff (b. 1951)