Stated in such broad terms, these basic principles of democratic representation enjoy unanimous accord. But that accord will always show cracks or even completely disintegrate once it is attempted to define procedures for implementation. Is there just one “sovereign people” or several? Does the people’s ethno-cultural make-up (national minorities) or at least its variable presence on the territory (division into constituencies) require special consideration? Must representation be purely political in nature (party- or ideology-based) or must it take cultural and social factors (religion, sex, social category etc) into account? Must the need to arrive at a governing majority be catered for prior to the election, by tolerating “distortions” of plurality or majority voting, or afterwards, by allowing free representatives to form coalitions in the light of the challenges and the balance of power? Since parliamentary elections do not have the same scope from one political system to another (parliamentary, presidential or semi-presidential) and are not the sole elections held in most  democracies (there being infra-national and sometimes supra-national elections), should they not be regarded as part of a broader “electoral system”, in which several patterns of representation may coexist and, accordingly, several voting methods, with each offsetting the effects of the others? All these issues should be focal points for specialists and politicians.