The number of persons belonging to minorities is by definition too small for them to determine the outcome of decisions in majoritarian democracy.

A logical solution would be to scrap the proportional component of the electoral system altogether, and move decisively toward a two party political system under fully majoritarian elections. But that is unlikely.

Jordan s Muslim Brotherhood boycotted the country s parliamentary election in 2010, arguing that the government did not provide any guarantees of its integrity. In the 2007 election, the Brotherhood accused the government of fraud, and opposed the majoritarian electoral system.

In that regard, I welcome the public assurances of prominent leaders against pursuing a sectarian agenda or imposing majoritarian views on issues in which all Iraqis have a stake, including issues related to the nature and character of the Iraqi State.

The Islamic Action Front, the Brotherhood s political party in Jordan, continued to reject the majoritarian electoral system, which favors tribes over political parties and other important social groups. In particular, owing to the relative insignificance of national party lists, Jordanians of Palestinian origin, who comprise nearly half the electorate, receive only a small percentage of elected officials.

Of course, Prodi could preserve a bipolar political system and thus increase the longevity of his government by either restoring a majoritarian electoral system or pressing ahead with other constitutional amendments designed to preserve government and coalition stability. But forcing such changes on his coalition partners could be as difficult for Prodi as tackling Italy s daunting economic problems.

One lesson from Lebanon s recent history stands out above all others in divided political societies such as Lebanon and Iraq, coalition democracy is preferable to majoritarian winner takes all democracy. In Lebanon, the danger of one community monopolizing power over others is avoided because the Lebanese constitution imposes permanent power sharing arrangements on all major communities.

Looking at Egypt s prospects realistically, one should not exclude the possibility that the two strongest forces in the country the military and the Muslim Brotherhood ultimately will find a way to share power. The Brotherhood s vision of democracy is purely majoritarian, not liberal winning an election, according to its spokespeople, permits the victor to rule according to his views.

Anything else suggests that political Islam is the Marxism of our time, preparing a long term strategy ultimately aimed at replacing the system rather than reforming it. The liberal democratic alternative is to participate in the push and pull over the role of religion in public life within limits set by a super majoritarian constitution, as more religiously oriented parties do in the US, Europe, and Israel.

One Dalit (the lowest level of India s old caste system) leader expressed his fear that Anna s success might inspire some majoritarian leader to rouse an even larger movement to rescind the protective rights and affirmative action policies that have brought the lower castes some dignity. And some NGO leaders object that their own, very different anti corruption agenda is being pre empted by Hazare s demands.

The law, which establishes a largely majoritarian system based on single member districts, with only 17 of the parliament s 140 seats to be elected according to national party lists, was approved by Jordan s Senate just hours before Egypt s independent election commission declared Morsi the winner. People to whom I spoke in Jordan s government and palace say that they were led to believe that the post would go to Mubarak s last prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq.