O sistema eleitoral distrital como instrumento de accountabilitty: revisão sistemática da literatura

Abstract

Electoral rules, diverse social, political, and demographic contexts influence voter behavior. In Brazil, the possibility of changing the proportional electoral system to a majoritarian model (pure or mixed) presents itself as a viable instrument to improve the responsiveness of parliamentarians to the electorate. The Supreme Federal Court and part of the National Congress suggest that the majoritarian electoral system brings the voter closer to their representative, but few studies associate this system model with accountability. This work deals with a literature review that relates the majoritarian electoral system to accountability, with the purpose of considering the limits and potential of the majoritarian electoral system in controlling accounts. Through a systematic review of the scientific literature, research on the topic was gathered, in order to evaluate and synthesize the studies using the PICOC model, determining contexts, mechanisms, and results on the subject. The material was categorized according to Annex I, whose organization was carried out based on the variables found. In conclusion, the studies suggest that a majoritarian electoral system may be able to facilitate the identification of the representative by the voter, but this does not necessarily favor accountability, because it does not translate into the voter's ability to hold their representative accountable, which is more associated with institutional, macroeconomic, and sociodemographic aspects. The application of the study to the Brazilian reality shows that a change of system, with the aim of promoting better control of parliamentary acts, needs to be supported by studies that indicate relevant aspects for the control of accounts by the Brazilian electorate, among them: voter frequency at the polls, effect of district size on representation, existence of ideological linkage between the voter and preferred party, satisfaction with democracy, proportionality and representativeness of the system, influence of the party system on the electoral process, influence of the voter on parliamentary decisions, tendency towards bipolarity of the party system, how the voter holds the parliamentarian accountable, responsiveness of the representative.