The opening of the electoral lists: ¿A first step to overcoming the crisis of representativeness in the Spanish democracy?

Abstract

The crisis of representativeness in the Spanish democracy demands constructive legal solutions to foster its improvement. One of the pillars subjected to doctrinal criticism is the configuration of the electoral system. As is widely known, the Spanish constitution of 1978 (CE 1978, onwards) established the general guidelines to the electoral system. Its detailed development would be a task for the principal legislator. The LOREG opted, amongst many other resolutions, for to maintain an electoral model of blocked and closed lists established with provisional nature in the Real Decreto Ley 20/1977, a situation that remains in the same way until today. The present paper criticizes the obsolescence of this system as well as its negative effects for the overcoming of the representativeness for both affecting to the political freedom of the voter and hindering the internal democratization of political parties. Overcoming this scenario demands reforming the legal fields so as to guarantee a higher and better participation of citizens in the electoral process and in the political parties. The open-lists system, with its lights and shadows, brings some profits in this sense that needs to be properly attended.