A new type of directly elected president

Professor Peter Jambrek, a member of the Slovenian constitutional court, has put forward a way of electing presidents that would protect ethnic minorities. This was subsequently elaborated as a joint paper by Professor Jambrek and Dr David Chapman.

In this version, the president would be elected directly by the people, using a Chapman variation of the Condorcet method which would tend to elect a moderate candidate nearest to the centre, one who appealed to wide sections of the electorate and to the minority groups.

'The president's only substantial power would be to select the prime minister, who can then only be rejected by a two-thirds majority of parliament'

The president's only substantial power would be to select the prime minister, who can then only be rejected by a two-thirds majority of parliament (and then only if they propose a replacement candidate).

The prime minister appoints cabinet members, who may or may not be MPs, with candidates subject to the same parliamentary veto.

The government is not obliged to resign if it is defeated on any one issue and would normally simply adjust the proposed legislation until it got the required support.

This would have the added advantage of giving more stable government than is usually obtained under proportional representation, by avoiding unstable coalitions.

- Dr David Chapman - see above for address.
- Professor Peter Jambrek's address is Pravna Fakulteta, Univerza Edvarda Kardelja, Trg osvoboditve 11, 61000 Ljubljana, Slovenia, Yugoslavia (tel 061 331 611; fax 61 331 734 ).

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