Acta Universitatis Carolinae Iuridica (AUCI) is the main journal of the Faculty of Law of Charles University. It has been published since 1954 and is one of the traditional law journals with a theoretical focus.
As a general law journal, it publishes longer studies and shorter articles on any relevant issues in legal theory and international, European and national law. AUCI also publishes material relating to current legislative issues. AUCI is a peer-reviewed journal and accepts submissions from both Czech and international authors. Contributions by foreign authors are published in their original language – Slovak, English, German, French.
AUCI is a theoretical journal for questions of state and law. It is published by Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Law, through Karolinum Press. It is published four times a year, the dates of publication can be found here.
Articles published in AUCI undergo an independent peer review process, which is anonymous on both sides. Reviewers from the field give their opinion on the scientific quality of the paper and the suitability of publication in the journal. In the case of comments, the opinion is sent back to the author with the possibility of revising the text (see Guidelines for Authors – Per Review Process for more details).
The AUCI journal (ISSN 0323-0619) is registered in the Czech National Bibliography (kept by the National Library of the Czech Republic) and in the Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (kept by the American Association of Law Libraries). AUCI has been assigned a periodical registration number MK E 18585.
In 2021 the journal AUCI was the first journal of the Faculty of Law of Charles University to be included in the prestigious international database Scopus. This Elsevier database is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature in the world. The editors of the journal expect from the inclusion in the elite Scopus database not only an increase in the readership of the journal, but also an increase in interest in the publication of papers by both Czech and foreign authors.
AUCI is an open journal and all its content is published both on the faculty website and on the Karolinum Press website. Access to it is free of charge. The homepage of AUCI is on the Karolinum Press website.
The AUCI journal uses the Creative Commons license: CC BY 4.0.
Long-term archiving of the digital content of the journal is provided by Portico.
AUC IURIDICA, Vol 56 No 2 (2010), 21–35
Preferenční hlasování ve volbách do Poslanecké sněmovny ČR
[Preferential Voting in the Elections to the Chamber of Deputies of the CR]
Jan Kudrna
published online: 04. 02. 2015
abstract
Preferential Voting in the Elections to the Chamber of Deputies of the CR Pursuant to the Constitution of the Czech Republic, the elections to the Chamber of Deputies are organised on the basis of the electoral system of proportional representation. There are a number of modifications of this electoral system. One of variables shaping the form of a specific proportional system are the so-called preferential votes. To a greater or lesser extent, they make it possible to express voter’s personal preference and to introduce elements of some sort of personal vote in a system based on selecting electoral ballots made up by a political party. Rules which at present govern using preferential votes in the Czech Republic are so strict that they question the effectiveness and purpose of the existence of preferential votes. On the basis of data gathered from last two elections to the Chamber of Deputies, the paper demonstrates that voters use only between one sixth and one fifth of preferential votes which they have at their disposal. However, due to strict applicable rules only about one quarter of this fraction are actually counted in. Therefore, totally, approximately about three quarters of preferential votes cast fall through and do not influence the outcome of the elections. The reason for this situation should especially be seen in the excessively high number of preferential votes which a candidate must obtain if the preferential votes are to be counted in. In last two elections, the threshold was 7% of all votes cast for an electoral party for which a particular person ran in the elections. Analyses of previous electoral statistics indicate that only if the required fraction is reduced down to 3%, it would result in nearly half of all preferential votes cast being taken into account. The current legal situation therefore raises serious doubts about its very purpose. On the one hand, it introduces the possibility of preferential votes, on the other hand, it prescribes so restrictive conditions that preferential votes have no real impact on the outcome of the elections. There are two possibilities of how to deal with the situation in the future. Preferential votes can be completely abolished. The real position of voters would not in fact be changed and the legal regulation would better reflect the actual situation. Also, some time could be saved in counting electoral results. The second option is to considerably relax the mentioned restrictive elements in the legal regulation, i.e. to reduce the necessary fraction out of all votes cast for an electoral ballot down to maximally 1–2%. The author prefers the second mentioned option, as a means of strengthening the influence of voters on the electoral result and, to some extent, also on the personal selection of candidates offered by political parties.
keywords: Elections; Chamber of Deputies; Czech Republic; proportional electoral system; preferential votes; categorical electoral ballots volby; Poslanecká sněmovna; Česká republika; poměrný volební systém; preferenční hlasy; vázané kandidátní listiny
Preferenční hlasování ve volbách do Poslanecké sněmovny ČR is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
230 x 157 mm
periodicity: 4 x per year
print price: 65 czk
ISSN: 0323-0619
E-ISSN: 2336-6478
