Abstract

The problem of the selection of the legislative representatives is the problem of knowing how this representatives are selected. The electoral system is the system that most democratic organizations have adopted and has become so present nowadays that we take for granted the identification between electoral system and representative democracy. However the meaning of ‘representative democracy’ has no reference to a specific mode of selection of the representatives. Being compatible with the democratic principle, the criteria of competence for the exercise of the legislative function ought to be the instituted mode of selection, for it is the best one. In general, this is precisely what representation aims in the context of division of labour: to leave to the experts the exercise of some social function belonging to all.