Proportional representation
Encyclopedia
Proportional representation (PR) is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular party then roughly 30% of seats will be won by that party. PR is an alternative to voting systems based on single member districts or on bloc voting
; these non-PR systems tend to produce disproportionate outcomes and to have a bias in favour of larger political groups. PR systems tend to produce a proliferation of political parties, while single member districts encourage a two-party system.
There are many different forms of proportional representation. Some are focused solely on achieving the proportional representation of different political parties (such as list PR
) while others permit the voter to chose between individual candidates (such as PR-STV
). The degree of proportionality also varies; it is determined by factors such as the precise formula used to allocate seats, the number of seats in each constituency or in the elected body as a whole, and the level of any minimum threshold for election.
(or "first-past-the-post") system common countries of the former British empire, such as the United States, the UK, Canada and India. In these nations most alternative systems tend to be described as forms or types of "proportional representation" but this terminology is inexact and has sometimes (in the British Columbia electoral reform referendum, 2009
and Ontario electoral reform referendum, 2007
) resulted in expert advocates using a different set of criteria to decide what to present to the public than the public uses, resulting in referendums that suffer an overwhelming defeat. In particular the focus on party-proportionality was exploited by the "No" campaigns in Ontario, British Columbia and in a similar referendum in Prince Edward Island, which were able to emphasize the shift of power from the public to the parties. In the Ontario case this was particularly effective, as closed-party-list representation had not yet been ruled out.
The majority of debate about voting systems is about whether to move to more proportionality. This is because the established parties in current US and UK elections can, and most often do, win formal control of the parliament with support from as little as 20-25% of eligible voters, at the cost of smaller parties. In Canada the situation is arguably worse with governments regularly formed by parties with support of under 40% of actual voters holding majority power for full four-year terms. Coupled with turnout levels in the electorate of less than 60%, this can lead to a party obtaining a majority government by convincing as few as one quarter of the electorate to vote for them. Additionally, Canada possesses a generally weaker judicial check on power than in the US, and weaker legislative checks on power than in the UK.
Different methods of achieving proportional representation achieve either greater proportionality or a more determinate outcome.
Party-list proportional representation
is one approach, in which each political party
present its list of candidates: voters chose a party list. The open list
form allows the voter to influence the election of individual candidates within a party list. The closed list
approach does not: the party chooses the order with its highest ranked candidates more likely to be elected.
Another variation is the single transferable vote
(STV) which does not depend on political parties. Voters rank candidates in order of preference: if their most preferred candidate receives insufficient votes, the vote is transferred to the second choice and so on. Elections for the Australian Senate
use what is referred to as above-the-line voting where candidates for each party are grouped on the ballot, allowing the voter to vote for the group or for a candidate. In elections to the Irish Dáil Éireann
, candidates are listed on the ballot in alphabetic order, irrespective of party affiliation.
Other variations include single non-transferable vote
(SNTV), cumulative voting
and limited voting
, all of which offer a form of semi-proportional representation
(SPR).
The emphasis on political parties may reduce PR's effectiveness. Political parties' influence is declining in countries such as the U.S.
, which in 2004 saw 24% of voters declaring themselves to be independent. In such polities, an alternative such as loser delegation can achieve full representation in a different way.
This system is used in many countries, including Finland
(open list), Latvia
(open list), Sweden
(open list), Israel
(where the whole country is one closed list constituency), Brazil
(open list), the Netherlands
(open list), Russia
(closed list), South Africa
(closed list), Democratic Republic of the Congo
(open list). For elections to the European Parliament
, most member states use open lists; most of the United Kingdom
uses closed lists, but Northern Ireland
uses the Single transferable vote
, as does Ireland
.
Mixed election systems
combine a national or regional proportional system with single seat constituencies elected by a plurality system, attempting to achieve some of the positive features of each. Mixed systems are often helpful in countries with large populations, since they balance local and national concerns. They are used in nations with diverse geographic, social, cultural and economic issues.
Such systems, or variations of them, are used in parts of the United Kingdom
(the Greater London Authority, the Scottish Parliament
and the Welsh Assembly), Germany
, Lesotho
, Mexico
, Bolivia
and New Zealand
. Italy
has changed between sub-systems.
.
Each constituency elects two or more representatives per electorate. Consequently the constituency is equivalent in size to the sum of single member constituencies that would produce the same number of representatives. Parties tend to offer as many candidates as they optimistically could expect to win: major parties nominate more than minor parties. Voters rank some or all candidates in order of their choice. A successful candidate must achieve a quota, which is "calculated by dividing the Total Valid Poll by one more than the number of seats to be filled, ignoring any remainder and then adding 1 vote." Only in a few cases is this achieved at the first count. For the second count, if a candidate wins election her/his surplus vote (in excess of the quota) is transferred to the voters' second choices; otherwise, the least popular candidate is eliminated and those votes are redistributed according to the second preference shown on them. If more than one candidate cannot get enough votes after the transfer of votes of the least popular candidate, that candidate is also eliminated (as they would be eliminated on the next round anyway.)
The process repeats until all seats are filled either when the required number of candidates achieve the quota or until the number of remaining candidates matches the number of remaining seats. Although the counting process is complicated, voting is clear and most voters get at least one of their preferences elected.
All deputies are answerable directly to their local constituents. Some political scientists argue that STV is more properly classified as 'semi-proportional' as there is no assurance of a proportional result at a national level. Indeed, many advocates of STV argue that preventing nationwide proportionality is one of the primary goals of the system, to avoid the perceived risks of a fragmented legislature.
This system is used in the Upper House in India
, Australia
(Senate, Tasmania
n and Australian Capital Territory
Houses of Assembly and the Legislative Councils in New South Wales
, South Australia
, Western Australia
and Victoria
), Ireland
, Northern Ireland
(assembly
, local government
and European elections, but not national), Malta
, local government elections in Scotland
and selected (optional) local governments in New Zealand
.
For example, consider a district where Alice receives 45% of the votes, while Bob takes 40%, leaving Charlie with the remaining 15%. Under traditional first-past-the-post rules, Alice wins, leaving 55% of the voters without representation. In instant run-off, if 80% of Charlie's voters picked Bob as their second choice, he would win in the second round, with 52% of the final total to Alice's 48%, bringing second-choice representation to 7% of the voters, while leaving Alice's voters without a voice.
Under loser delegation in the instant-runoff case, Bob joins the legislature, while Alice can assign her votes to Dave, who beat Sue with 56% in a nearby district. Now those who voted for Alice have about as much voice in legislation (via Dave) as Bob's voters; nobody is left unrepresented. Bob effectively casts 52 votes, Dave casts 56 + 48 or 104, and also-moderate Fran casts 58 (her winning percentage in a third district.) Of course, the losers in Dave and Fran's districts also get to delegate their votes, so Bob could conceivably end up casting 52 + 44 + 42 or 138 votes.
However, combining delegation with first-past-the-post may be a better choice because that way Charlie can give his votes to Fran instead of seeing them handed to Bob following the runoff. Now Alice casts 45 as her district's representative, Bob delegates his 40 to Sue to add to her 44, Dave stays at 56, and Fran totals 58 + 15 or 73.
is credited as inventor of the single transferable vote
, whose use he described in 1821 for application in elections at his school. The method, which guarantees proportional representation, was introduced in 1840 by his son Rowland Hill
into the public election for the Adelaide
City Council
. Unlike several later systems, this did not allow for party-list proportional representation
.
Single Transferable Vote
was first used in Denmark in 1857, making STV the oldest PR system, but the system used there never really spread. STV was re-invented (apparently independently) in the UK, but the British parliament rejected it.
A party-list proportional representation system was first devised and described in 1878 by Victor D'Hondt
of Belgium. The procedure, known as the D'Hondt method
, is still widely used. Victor Considérant, a utopian socialist
, devised a similar system in an 1892 book. Some Swiss cantons (beginning with Ticino in 1890) preceded Belgium which was the first to adopt list-PR in 1900 for its national parliament. Many European countries adopted similar systems during or after World War I
.
STV was used in Tasmania
in 1907. In the last Irish elections to the UK Parliament in 1919, STV was used in the University of Dublin
constituency; two Independent Unionists were elected. STV has been in use since Irish independence. A mainly centrist party, Fianna Fáil
, typically receives 30%-50% of the vote while opposition parties, traditionally the centre-right Fine Gael
and the centre-left Labour Party
, are comparatively weak. This has led to a series of coalition governments; there has not been a single-party government since 1989.
PR is used by more nations than the plurality voting system, and it dominates Europe, including Germany, most of northern and eastern Europe, and for European Parliament
elections. France adopted PR at the end of World War II, discarding it in 1958. In 1986 it was used for parliament elections.
While FPTP is commonly found in countries based on the British parliamentary system, and in Westminster elections in the United Kingdom
, the Scottish Parliament
and the Welsh National Assembly use a form of PR known as the mixed member system, after New Zealand
adopted it in 1993. Five Canadian provinces—British Columbia
, Ontario
, Quebec
, Prince Edward Island
and New Brunswick
— are debating whether to abolish FPTP.
PR has some history in the United States
. Many cities, including New York City
, once used it to break up the Democratic Party
city councils monopolies on elective office. Cincinnati, Ohio
, adopted PR in 1925 to get rid of a Republican Party
party, but the Republicans returned the city to FPTP in 1957. From 1870 to 1980, Illinois
used a semi-proportional cumulative voting
system to elect its State House of Representatives. Each district across the state elected both Republicans and Democrats year-after-year. Cambridge, Massachusetts
and Peoria, Illinois
continue to use PR. San Francisco had city-wide elections where people would cast votes for five or six candidates simultaneously, delivering some of the benefits of proportional representation.
In his essay, Overcoming Practical Difficulties in Creating a World Parliamentary Assembly, Joseph E. Schwartzberg
proposes the use of proportional representation in the United Nations Parliamentary Assembly
in order to prevent, for instance, lower castes of India
ns from being excluded.
. If the constituency is in a jurisdiction using PR-STV in its MMDs, an absolute majority of 50% plus 1 will likely be the minimum required for victory (depending on which quota is used) so that the election in the SMD is by the alternative vote. Four elected officials per district delivers a threshold of 20% (1/M+1) to gain a single seat. However, constituency borders can still be gerrymandered to reduce proportionality. This may be achieved by creating "majority-minority" constituencies - constituencies in which the majority is formed by a group of voters that are in the minority at a higher level. Proportional representation with the entire nation electing the single body cannot be gerrymandered.
Multimember districts do not necessarily ensure that an electoral system will be proportional. The bloc vote
can result in "super-majoritarian" results in which geographical variations can create majority-minority districts that become subsumed into the larger districts. Also, a party that does not run enough people to fill all the seats it wins may be given those unfilled seats. This is termed an underhang
.
Some nations, with either exclusively proportional representation or—as is the case with Germany—additional member system
s, require a party list to achieve an election threshold
—a set minimum percentage of votes to receive any seats. Typically, this lower limit is between two and five percent of the number of votes cast. Parties who do not reach that support are not represented in parliament, making majorities, coalitions and thus governments easier to achieve. Proponents of election thresholds argue that they discourage fragmentation, disproportionate power
, or extremist parties. Opponents of thresholds argue that they unfairly redirect support from minor parties, giving parties which cross the threshold disproportionate numbers of seats and creating the possibility that a party or coalition will assume control of the legislature without gaining a majority of votes.
The most common way of measuring proportionality is the Gallagher Index
.
is a notable example of nationwide proportionally-elected Parliament which happens to be too fragmented, with currently 18 parties. The balance of power
is then in the hands of party leaders with idiosyncratic beliefs, or fragmenting the "left" or "right" into too many small parties incapable of campaigning or holding a government together.
To respond to this problem, Israel has tried multiple strategies:
Plurality-at-large voting
Plurality-at-large voting is a non-proportional voting system for electing several representatives from a single multimember electoral district using a series of check boxes and tallying votes similar to a plurality election...
; these non-PR systems tend to produce disproportionate outcomes and to have a bias in favour of larger political groups. PR systems tend to produce a proliferation of political parties, while single member districts encourage a two-party system.
There are many different forms of proportional representation. Some are focused solely on achieving the proportional representation of different political parties (such as list PR
Party-list proportional representation
Party-list proportional representation systems are a family of voting systems emphasizing proportional representation in elections in which multiple candidates are elected...
) while others permit the voter to chose between individual candidates (such as PR-STV
Single transferable vote
The single transferable vote is a voting system designed to achieve proportional representation through preferential voting. Under STV, an elector's vote is initially allocated to his or her most preferred candidate, and then, after candidates have been either elected or eliminated, any surplus or...
). The degree of proportionality also varies; it is determined by factors such as the precise formula used to allocate seats, the number of seats in each constituency or in the elected body as a whole, and the level of any minimum threshold for election.
PR versus plurality systems
PR is often contrasted with single winner electoral systems. The most common of these is the single member pluralityFirst-past-the-post
First-past-the-post voting refers to an election won by the candidate with the most votes. The winning potato candidate does not necessarily receive an absolute majority of all votes cast.-Overview:...
(or "first-past-the-post") system common countries of the former British empire, such as the United States, the UK, Canada and India. In these nations most alternative systems tend to be described as forms or types of "proportional representation" but this terminology is inexact and has sometimes (in the British Columbia electoral reform referendum, 2009
British Columbia electoral reform referendum, 2009
A second referendum on electoral reform was held in conjunction with the provincial election on May 12, 2009. The BC-single transferrable vote electoral system was again voted on by the BC electorate. It would have required 60 per cent overall approval and 50 per cent approval in at least 60 per...
and Ontario electoral reform referendum, 2007
Ontario electoral reform referendum, 2007
An Ontario electoral reform referendum was held on October 10, 2007, in an attempt to establish a mixed member proportional representation system for elections to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario...
) resulted in expert advocates using a different set of criteria to decide what to present to the public than the public uses, resulting in referendums that suffer an overwhelming defeat. In particular the focus on party-proportionality was exploited by the "No" campaigns in Ontario, British Columbia and in a similar referendum in Prince Edward Island, which were able to emphasize the shift of power from the public to the parties. In the Ontario case this was particularly effective, as closed-party-list representation had not yet been ruled out.
Voting systems that achieve more party-proportional representation
Proportional systems emphasize the political agenda by parties, since parties often function at the heart of proportional representation. For example, a party that receives 15% of the votes under such a system receives 15% of the seats for its candidates. However, nations with proportional voting may differ in that some emphasize the individuals within the parties, such as the Netherlands http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_the_Netherlands#System, while other nations only allow voting for parties, such as Italy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_Italy#Electoral_System.The majority of debate about voting systems is about whether to move to more proportionality. This is because the established parties in current US and UK elections can, and most often do, win formal control of the parliament with support from as little as 20-25% of eligible voters, at the cost of smaller parties. In Canada the situation is arguably worse with governments regularly formed by parties with support of under 40% of actual voters holding majority power for full four-year terms. Coupled with turnout levels in the electorate of less than 60%, this can lead to a party obtaining a majority government by convincing as few as one quarter of the electorate to vote for them. Additionally, Canada possesses a generally weaker judicial check on power than in the US, and weaker legislative checks on power than in the UK.
Different methods of achieving proportional representation achieve either greater proportionality or a more determinate outcome.
Party-list proportional representation
Party-list proportional representation
Party-list proportional representation systems are a family of voting systems emphasizing proportional representation in elections in which multiple candidates are elected...
is one approach, in which each political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
present its list of candidates: voters chose a party list. The open list
Open list
Open list describes any variant of party-list proportional representation where voters have at least some influence on the order in which a party's candidates are elected...
form allows the voter to influence the election of individual candidates within a party list. The closed list
Closed list
Closed list describes the variant of party-list proportional representation where voters can only vote for political parties as a whole and thus have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected...
approach does not: the party chooses the order with its highest ranked candidates more likely to be elected.
Another variation is the single transferable vote
Single transferable vote
The single transferable vote is a voting system designed to achieve proportional representation through preferential voting. Under STV, an elector's vote is initially allocated to his or her most preferred candidate, and then, after candidates have been either elected or eliminated, any surplus or...
(STV) which does not depend on political parties. Voters rank candidates in order of preference: if their most preferred candidate receives insufficient votes, the vote is transferred to the second choice and so on. Elections for the Australian Senate
Australian Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...
use what is referred to as above-the-line voting where candidates for each party are grouped on the ballot, allowing the voter to vote for the group or for a candidate. In elections to the Irish Dáil Éireann
Dáil Éireann
Dáil Éireann is the lower house, but principal chamber, of the Oireachtas , which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann . It is directly elected at least once in every five years under the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote...
, candidates are listed on the ballot in alphabetic order, irrespective of party affiliation.
Other variations include single non-transferable vote
Single non-transferable vote
The single non-transferable vote or SNTV is an electoral system used in multi-member constituency elections.- Voting :In any election, each voter casts one vote for one candidate in a multi-candidate race for multiple offices. Posts are filled by the candidates with the most votes...
(SNTV), cumulative voting
Cumulative voting
Cumulative voting is a multiple-winner voting system intended to promote more proportional representation than winner-take-all elections.- History :...
and limited voting
Limited Voting
Limited voting is a voting system in which electors have fewer votes than there are positions available. The positions are awarded to the candidates who receive the most votes absolutely...
, all of which offer a form of semi-proportional representation
Semi-proportional representation
A Semi-proportional voting system is a multi-winner voting system whose proportionality lies between that of majoritarian systems like bloc voting and fully proportional methods like the Sainte-Laguë method or STV....
(SPR).
The emphasis on political parties may reduce PR's effectiveness. Political parties' influence is declining in countries such as the U.S.
Political parties in the United States
This article presents the historical development and role of political parties in United States politics, and outlines more extensively the significant modern political parties. Throughout most of its history, American politics have been dominated by a two-party system...
, which in 2004 saw 24% of voters declaring themselves to be independent. In such polities, an alternative such as loser delegation can achieve full representation in a different way.
Party list system in a multi-member constituency
The parties each list their candidates according to that party's determination of priorities. In closed list systems, voters vote for a list of candidates, with the party chosing the order of candidates on the list [and thus, in effect, their probability of being elected]. Each party is allocated seats in proportion to the number of votes it receives, using the party-determined ranking order. In an open list, voters may vote, depending on the model, for one person, or for two, or indicate their order of preference within the list nevertheless the number of candidates elected from the list is determined by the number of votes the list receives.This system is used in many countries, including Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
(open list), Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
(open list), Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
(open list), Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
(where the whole country is one closed list constituency), Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
(open list), the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
(open list), Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
(closed list), South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
(closed list), Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
(open list). For elections to the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
, most member states use open lists; most of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
uses closed lists, but Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
uses the Single transferable vote
Single transferable vote
The single transferable vote is a voting system designed to achieve proportional representation through preferential voting. Under STV, an elector's vote is initially allocated to his or her most preferred candidate, and then, after candidates have been either elected or eliminated, any surplus or...
, as does Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
.
Additional-member system, mixed-member system
- Main articles: Additional Member SystemAdditional Member SystemThe Additional Member System is the term used in the United Kingdom for the mixed member proportional representation voting system used in Scotland, Wales and the London Assembly....
s - mixed member proportional representationMixed member proportional representationMixed-member proportional representation, also termed mixed-member proportional voting and commonly abbreviated to MMP, is a voting system originally used to elect representatives to the German Bundestag, and nowadays adopted by numerous legislatures around the world...
and parallel votingParallel votingParallel voting describes a mixed voting system where voters in effect participate in two separate elections for a single chamber using different systems, and where the results in one election have little or no impact on the results of the other...
; alternative vote and alternative vote top-upAlternative Vote Top-upThe Alternative Vote Plus , or Alternative Vote Top-up, is a semi-proportional voting system. AV+ was invented by the 1998 Jenkins Commission which first proposed the idea as a system that could be used for elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.As the name suggests, AV+ is an additional...
Mixed election systems
Mixed member proportional representation
Mixed-member proportional representation, also termed mixed-member proportional voting and commonly abbreviated to MMP, is a voting system originally used to elect representatives to the German Bundestag, and nowadays adopted by numerous legislatures around the world...
combine a national or regional proportional system with single seat constituencies elected by a plurality system, attempting to achieve some of the positive features of each. Mixed systems are often helpful in countries with large populations, since they balance local and national concerns. They are used in nations with diverse geographic, social, cultural and economic issues.
Such systems, or variations of them, are used in parts of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
(the Greater London Authority, the Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
and the Welsh Assembly), Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Lesotho
Lesotho
Lesotho , officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a landlocked country and enclave, surrounded by the Republic of South Africa. It is just over in size with a population of approximately 2,067,000. Its capital and largest city is Maseru. Lesotho is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. The name...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
has changed between sub-systems.
Single transferable vote in a multi-member constituency
This system uses preferential votingPreferential voting
Preferential voting is a type of ballot structure used in several electoral systems in which voters rank candidates in order of relative preference. For example, the voter may select their first choice as '1', their second preference a '2', and so on...
.
Each constituency elects two or more representatives per electorate. Consequently the constituency is equivalent in size to the sum of single member constituencies that would produce the same number of representatives. Parties tend to offer as many candidates as they optimistically could expect to win: major parties nominate more than minor parties. Voters rank some or all candidates in order of their choice. A successful candidate must achieve a quota, which is "calculated by dividing the Total Valid Poll by one more than the number of seats to be filled, ignoring any remainder and then adding 1 vote." Only in a few cases is this achieved at the first count. For the second count, if a candidate wins election her/his surplus vote (in excess of the quota) is transferred to the voters' second choices; otherwise, the least popular candidate is eliminated and those votes are redistributed according to the second preference shown on them. If more than one candidate cannot get enough votes after the transfer of votes of the least popular candidate, that candidate is also eliminated (as they would be eliminated on the next round anyway.)
The process repeats until all seats are filled either when the required number of candidates achieve the quota or until the number of remaining candidates matches the number of remaining seats. Although the counting process is complicated, voting is clear and most voters get at least one of their preferences elected.
All deputies are answerable directly to their local constituents. Some political scientists argue that STV is more properly classified as 'semi-proportional' as there is no assurance of a proportional result at a national level. Indeed, many advocates of STV argue that preventing nationwide proportionality is one of the primary goals of the system, to avoid the perceived risks of a fragmented legislature.
This system is used in the Upper House in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
(Senate, Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
n and Australian Capital Territory
Australian Capital Territory
The Australian Capital Territory, often abbreviated ACT, is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and is the smallest self-governing internal territory...
Houses of Assembly and the Legislative Councils in New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
, Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
and Victoria
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
), Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
(assembly
Northern Ireland Assembly
The Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and to appoint the Northern Ireland Executive...
, local government
Districts of Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is divided into 26 districts for local government purposes. In Northern Ireland local councils do not carry out the same range of functions as those in the rest of the United Kingdom, for example they have no responsibility for education, for road building or for housing...
and European elections, but not national), Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, local government elections in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and selected (optional) local governments in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
Loser delegation in a single-member constituency
"Loser delegation" voting can produce still greater representation in legislatures. This system allows losing candidates to delegate the votes they receive to the winning candidate in their own or in another district without regard to party. Delegated votes don't affect who enters the legislature, but they do affect subsequent legislative votes. Each representative's legislative votes are weighted by the sum of the direct and delegated votes they received. Delegated voting can be combined with first-past-the-post, instant-runoff, or other counting rules that determine the winning candidate.For example, consider a district where Alice receives 45% of the votes, while Bob takes 40%, leaving Charlie with the remaining 15%. Under traditional first-past-the-post rules, Alice wins, leaving 55% of the voters without representation. In instant run-off, if 80% of Charlie's voters picked Bob as their second choice, he would win in the second round, with 52% of the final total to Alice's 48%, bringing second-choice representation to 7% of the voters, while leaving Alice's voters without a voice.
Under loser delegation in the instant-runoff case, Bob joins the legislature, while Alice can assign her votes to Dave, who beat Sue with 56% in a nearby district. Now those who voted for Alice have about as much voice in legislation (via Dave) as Bob's voters; nobody is left unrepresented. Bob effectively casts 52 votes, Dave casts 56 + 48 or 104, and also-moderate Fran casts 58 (her winning percentage in a third district.) Of course, the losers in Dave and Fran's districts also get to delegate their votes, so Bob could conceivably end up casting 52 + 44 + 42 or 138 votes.
However, combining delegation with first-past-the-post may be a better choice because that way Charlie can give his votes to Fran instead of seeing them handed to Bob following the runoff. Now Alice casts 45 as her district's representative, Bob delegates his 40 to Sue to add to her 44, Dave stays at 56, and Fran totals 58 + 15 or 73.
History
The British schoolmaster Thomas Wright HillThomas Wright Hill
Thomas Wright Hill was a mathematician and schoolmaster. He is credited as inventing the single transferable vote in 1819...
is credited as inventor of the single transferable vote
Single transferable vote
The single transferable vote is a voting system designed to achieve proportional representation through preferential voting. Under STV, an elector's vote is initially allocated to his or her most preferred candidate, and then, after candidates have been either elected or eliminated, any surplus or...
, whose use he described in 1821 for application in elections at his school. The method, which guarantees proportional representation, was introduced in 1840 by his son Rowland Hill
Rowland Hill
Rowland Hill may refer to:* Rowland Hill , English Member of Parliament for the City of London* Sir Rowland Hill, 1st Baronet Hill of Hawkstone , built Hawkstone Park follies...
into the public election for the Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
City Council
City council
A city council or town council is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.-Australia & NZ:Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies...
. Unlike several later systems, this did not allow for party-list proportional representation
Party-list proportional representation
Party-list proportional representation systems are a family of voting systems emphasizing proportional representation in elections in which multiple candidates are elected...
.
Single Transferable Vote
Single transferable vote
The single transferable vote is a voting system designed to achieve proportional representation through preferential voting. Under STV, an elector's vote is initially allocated to his or her most preferred candidate, and then, after candidates have been either elected or eliminated, any surplus or...
was first used in Denmark in 1857, making STV the oldest PR system, but the system used there never really spread. STV was re-invented (apparently independently) in the UK, but the British parliament rejected it.
A party-list proportional representation system was first devised and described in 1878 by Victor D'Hondt
Victor D'Hondt
Victor D’Hondt was a Belgian lawyer, salesman, jurist of civil law at Ghent University, and mathematician. He devised a procedure, the D'Hondt method, which he first described in 1878, for allocating seats to candidates in party-list proportional representation elections...
of Belgium. The procedure, known as the D'Hondt method
D'Hondt method
The d'Hondt method is a highest averages method for allocating seats in party-list proportional representation. The method described is named after Belgian mathematician Victor D'Hondt who described it in 1878...
, is still widely used. Victor Considérant, a utopian socialist
Utopian socialism
Utopian socialism is a term used to define the first currents of modern socialist thought as exemplified by the work of Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier, and Robert Owen which inspired Karl Marx and other early socialists and were looked on favorably...
, devised a similar system in an 1892 book. Some Swiss cantons (beginning with Ticino in 1890) preceded Belgium which was the first to adopt list-PR in 1900 for its national parliament. Many European countries adopted similar systems during or after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
STV was used in Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
in 1907. In the last Irish elections to the UK Parliament in 1919, STV was used in the University of Dublin
University of Dublin
The University of Dublin , corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin , located in Dublin, Ireland, was effectively founded when in 1592 Queen Elizabeth I issued a charter for Trinity College, Dublin, as "the mother of a university" – this date making it...
constituency; two Independent Unionists were elected. STV has been in use since Irish independence. A mainly centrist party, Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party , more commonly known as Fianna Fáil is a centrist political party in the Republic of Ireland, founded on 23 March 1926. Fianna Fáil's name is traditionally translated into English as Soldiers of Destiny, although a more accurate rendition would be Warriors of Fál...
, typically receives 30%-50% of the vote while opposition parties, traditionally the centre-right Fine Gael
Fine Gael
Fine Gael is a centre-right to centrist political party in the Republic of Ireland. It is the single largest party in Ireland in the Oireachtas, in local government, and in terms of Members of the European Parliament. The party has a membership of over 35,000...
and the centre-left Labour Party
Labour Party (Ireland)
The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in the Republic of Ireland. The Labour Party was founded in 1912 in Clonmel, County Tipperary, by James Connolly, James Larkin and William X. O'Brien as the political wing of the Irish Trade Union Congress. Unlike the other main Irish...
, are comparatively weak. This has led to a series of coalition governments; there has not been a single-party government since 1989.
PR is used by more nations than the plurality voting system, and it dominates Europe, including Germany, most of northern and eastern Europe, and for European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
elections. France adopted PR at the end of World War II, discarding it in 1958. In 1986 it was used for parliament elections.
While FPTP is commonly found in countries based on the British parliamentary system, and in Westminster elections in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, the Scottish Parliament
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...
and the Welsh National Assembly use a form of PR known as the mixed member system, after New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
adopted it in 1993. Five Canadian provinces—British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...
and New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
— are debating whether to abolish FPTP.
PR has some history in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Many cities, including New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, once used it to break up the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
city councils monopolies on elective office. Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
, adopted PR in 1925 to get rid of a Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
party, but the Republicans returned the city to FPTP in 1957. From 1870 to 1980, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
used a semi-proportional cumulative voting
Cumulative voting
Cumulative voting is a multiple-winner voting system intended to promote more proportional representation than winner-take-all elections.- History :...
system to elect its State House of Representatives. Each district across the state elected both Republicans and Democrats year-after-year. Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
and Peoria, Illinois
Peoria, Illinois
Peoria is the largest city on the Illinois River and the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, in the United States. It is named after the Peoria tribe. As of the 2010 census, the city was the seventh-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 115,007, and is the third-most populated...
continue to use PR. San Francisco had city-wide elections where people would cast votes for five or six candidates simultaneously, delivering some of the benefits of proportional representation.
In his essay, Overcoming Practical Difficulties in Creating a World Parliamentary Assembly, Joseph E. Schwartzberg
Joseph E. Schwartzberg
Joseph E. Schwartzberg is a University of Minnesota professor emeritus of geography and prominent world federalist scholar.Schwartzberg was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1928. He has done significant work in seeking solutions to the Kashmir conflict. He also developed the idea of "weighted voting"...
proposes the use of proportional representation in the United Nations Parliamentary Assembly
United Nations Parliamentary Assembly
A United Nations Parliamentary Assembly is a proposed addition to the United Nations System that would allow for participation of member nations' legislators and, eventually, direct election of United Nations parliament members by citizens worldwide...
in order to prevent, for instance, lower castes of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
ns from being excluded.
Partial proportionality
Some nations with proportional elections, like Israel and the Netherlands, have one electoral district only: the entire nation, and the entire pie is cut up according to the entire outcome. Most nations have district systems in place where more than one person is elected per district. The constituency or district magnitude (DM) of a system is therefore measured by the number of seats per constituency. The greater the number of seats in a constituency, the more proportional the outcome will be. PR applied to a single-member district (SMD) is by necessity majoritarian. If the constituency is in a jurisdiction using list PR in its multimember districts (MMDs) the winning candidate simply needs a plurality, otherwise called a simple or relative majority, of the vote to win, so that the election in the SMD is by first-past-the-postFirst-past-the-post
First-past-the-post voting refers to an election won by the candidate with the most votes. The winning potato candidate does not necessarily receive an absolute majority of all votes cast.-Overview:...
. If the constituency is in a jurisdiction using PR-STV in its MMDs, an absolute majority of 50% plus 1 will likely be the minimum required for victory (depending on which quota is used) so that the election in the SMD is by the alternative vote. Four elected officials per district delivers a threshold of 20% (1/M+1) to gain a single seat. However, constituency borders can still be gerrymandered to reduce proportionality. This may be achieved by creating "majority-minority" constituencies - constituencies in which the majority is formed by a group of voters that are in the minority at a higher level. Proportional representation with the entire nation electing the single body cannot be gerrymandered.
Multimember districts do not necessarily ensure that an electoral system will be proportional. The bloc vote
Plurality-at-large voting
Plurality-at-large voting is a non-proportional voting system for electing several representatives from a single multimember electoral district using a series of check boxes and tallying votes similar to a plurality election...
can result in "super-majoritarian" results in which geographical variations can create majority-minority districts that become subsumed into the larger districts. Also, a party that does not run enough people to fill all the seats it wins may be given those unfilled seats. This is termed an underhang
Underhang seat
In proportional representation electoral systems, an underhang seat is a seat to which a party is entitled by virtue of the share of the votes it has received but is unable to fill through having submitted too few candidates....
.
Some nations, with either exclusively proportional representation or—as is the case with Germany—additional member system
Additional Member System
The Additional Member System is the term used in the United Kingdom for the mixed member proportional representation voting system used in Scotland, Wales and the London Assembly....
s, require a party list to achieve an election threshold
Election threshold
In party-list proportional representation systems, an election threshold is a clause that stipulates that a party must receive a minimum percentage of votes, either nationally or within a particular district, to obtain any seats in the parliament...
—a set minimum percentage of votes to receive any seats. Typically, this lower limit is between two and five percent of the number of votes cast. Parties who do not reach that support are not represented in parliament, making majorities, coalitions and thus governments easier to achieve. Proponents of election thresholds argue that they discourage fragmentation, disproportionate power
Balance of power (parliament)
In parliamentary politics, the term balance of power sometimes describes the pragmatic mechanism exercised by a minor political party or other grouping whose guaranteed support may enable an otherwise minority government to obtain and hold office...
, or extremist parties. Opponents of thresholds argue that they unfairly redirect support from minor parties, giving parties which cross the threshold disproportionate numbers of seats and creating the possibility that a party or coalition will assume control of the legislature without gaining a majority of votes.
The most common way of measuring proportionality is the Gallagher Index
Gallagher Index
The Gallagher Index is used to measure the disproportionality of an electoral outcome, that is the difference between the percentage of votes received and the percentage of seats a party gets in the resulting legislature. This is especially useful for comparing proportionality across electoral...
.
Fragmentation
IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
is a notable example of nationwide proportionally-elected Parliament which happens to be too fragmented, with currently 18 parties. The balance of power
Balance of power
Balance of power may refer to:* Balance of power , distribution of power between a central government and its subnational governments...
is then in the hands of party leaders with idiosyncratic beliefs, or fragmenting the "left" or "right" into too many small parties incapable of campaigning or holding a government together.
To respond to this problem, Israel has tried multiple strategies:
- Raising the electoral threshold from 1% (until 1982) to 1.5% (until 1993) then 2%
- Prime ministerial elections, in order to give the PM popular support and strengthen his role in governement. Voted in 1992, it was tried three times (in 1996Israeli prime ministerial election, 1996The first ever election for Prime Minister was held in Israel on 29 May 1996 alongside simultaneous Knesset elections. There were only two candidates: Shimon Peres of the Labour Party and Binyamin Netanyahu of Likud. The result was a surprise win for Netanyahu by a margin of 29,457 votes, less than...
, 1999Israeli prime ministerial election, 1999The second Prime Ministerial election in Israel was held on 17 May 1999 alongside elections for the 15th Knesset. Voter turnout was 69.0%.-Context:...
and 2001) - very large coalitions, representing a supermajority larger than the absolute majority (61 seats), and thus giving the coalition's main faction (the Prime minister's) more options. Netanyahu's 2009 cabinet has the potential support of 74 of the 120 MPs.
List of countries using proportional representation
This is a list of countries using proportional representation at national level.| Country | Type |
|---|---|
 Albania |
Party list |
 Algeria |
Party list |
 Angola |
Party list |
 Australia |
For Senate Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,... only, Single Transferable Vote |
 Austria |
Party list, 4 % threshold |
 Argentina |
Party list |
 Aruba |
Party list |
 Belgium |
Party list |
 Bolivia |
Mixed Member Majoritarian |
 Bosnia and Herzegovina |
Party list |
 Brazil |
Party list |
 Kingdom of Bulgaria |
Party list, 4 percent threshold |
 Burkina Faso |
Party list |
 Burundi |
Party list |
 Cambodia |
Party list |
 Cape Verde |
Party list |
 Colombia |
Party list |
 Costa Rica |
Party list |
 Independent State of Croatia |
Party list, 5 percent threshold |
 Curaçao |
Party list |
 Cyprus |
Party list |
 Czech Republic |
Party list, 5 percent threshold |
 Democratic Republic of the Congo |
Mixed member proportional |
 Denmark |
Party list |
 Dominican Republic |
Party list |
 Equatorial Guinea |
Party list |
 Estonia |
Party list, 5 percent threshold |
 Finland |
Party list |
 Germany |
Mixed member proportional, 5 percent threshold |
 Greece |
Party list (with plurality bonus). |
 Guinea-Bissau |
Party list |
 Guyana |
Party list |
 Hungary |
Mixed Member Majoritarian |
 Iceland |
Party list |
 India |
For Upper House (Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha or Council of States is the upper house of the Parliament of India. Rajya means "state," and Sabha means "assembly hall" in Sanskrit. Membership is limited to 250 members, 12 of whom are chosen by the President of India for their expertise in specific fields of art, literature,... ) only, Single Transferable Vote by State Legislatures |
 Indonesia |
Party list |
 Iraq |
Party list |
 Republic of Ireland |
Single Transferable Vote |
 Israel |
Party list, 1 percent threshold, with fragmentation so strong that Israel held Prime ministerial elections for a period |
 Italy |
Party list (with plurality bonus giving the strongest party/coalition an automatic majority) |
 Japan |
Mixed Member Majoritarian |
 Latvia |
Party list, 5 percent threshold |
 Lesotho |
Mixed Member Majoritarian |
 Liberia |
Party list |
 Liechtenstein |
Party list, 8 percent threshold |
 Lithuania |
|
 Luxembourg |
Party list |
 Republic of Macedonia http://faq.macedonia.org/politics/elections.html |
|
 Malta |
Single Transferable Vote, small constituencies (no third party got elected since 1966), with possible bonus to give House control to the biggest party |
 Mexico |
Mixed Member Majoritarian |
 Moldova |
Party list |
 Kingdom of Montenegrohttp://www.electionguide.org/country.php?ID=245 |
Party list |
 Morocco |
Party list, 6 percent threshold |
 Namibia |
Party list |
 Nepal |
Party list |
 Netherlands |
Party list, no threshold to elected 150 members, high fragmentation ; Prime minister is the leader of the first party, but government talks may be long |
 New Caledonia |
Party list |
 New Zealand |
Mixed Member Proportional 5% threshold |
 Nicaragua |
Party list |
 Norway |
Party list |
 Paraguay |
Party list |
 Peru |
Party list |
 Poland |
Party list, 5 percent threshold |
 Portugal |
Party list |
 Kingdom of Romania |
Mixed member proportional representation, 5 percent threshold |
 Russia |
Party list |
 San Marino |
Party list |
 São Tomé and Príncipe |
Party list |
 Serbia |
Party list |
 Sint Maarten |
Party list |
 Slovakia |
Party list, 5 percent threshold |
 Slovenia |
Party list, 4 percent threshold |
 South Africa |
Party list |
 South Korea |
Party list |
 Spain |
Party list, 3 percent threshold, many small constituencies (forms a PR two-party-and-regionalists system, a result of a consensus between the right-wing, which wanted a two-party system with FPTP, and left-wing and regionalists) |
 Sri Lanka |
Party list |
 Suriname |
Party list |
 Sweden |
Party list, 4 percent threshold |
 Switzerland |
Party list |
 Republic of China |
Mixed Member Majoritarian |
 Thailand |
Mixed Member Majoritarian |
 Tunisia |
Party list |
 Turkey |
Party list, 10 percent threshold, one of the highest, set to limit representation of Kurd independantists |
 Ukraine |
Party list |
 United Kingdom |
Northern Ireland - Single Transferable Vote (for regional assembly only) Scotland - Additional Member System (for devolved parliament only) Wales - Additional Member System (for national assembly only) |
 Uruguay |
Party list |
 Venezuela |
Mixed Member Majoritarian |
 Wallis and Futuna |
Party list |
Journals
- John Hickman and Chris Little. "Seat/Vote Proportionality in Romanian and Spanish Parliamentary Elections" Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans Vol. 2, No. 2, November 2000
News
- Roland Nicholson, Jr., "Proportional Representation Elections in Hong Kong", New York Times, September, 1992
See also
- Apportionment (politics)Apportionment (politics)Apportionment is the process of allocating political power among a set of principles . In most representative governments, political power has most recently been apportioned among constituencies based on population, but there is a long history of different approaches.The United States Constitution,...
- D'Hondt methodD'Hondt methodThe d'Hondt method is a highest averages method for allocating seats in party-list proportional representation. The method described is named after Belgian mathematician Victor D'Hondt who described it in 1878...
- List of politics-related topics
- Plurality voting systemPlurality voting systemThe plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies...
(First Past The Post) - Sainte-Laguë methodSainte-Laguë methodThe Sainte-Laguë method is one way of allocating seats approximately proportional to the number of votes of a party to a party list used in many voting systems. It is named after the French mathematician André Sainte-Laguë. The Sainte-Laguë method is quite similar to the D'Hondt method, but uses...
External links
- Proportional Representation Library
- "Proportional representation" Center for Voting and Democracy
- Handbook of Electoral System Choice
- "Electoral Systems", World Policy Institute
- Quantifying Representativity Article by Philip Kestelman
- The De Borda Institute A Northern Ireland-based organisation promoting inclusive voting procedures
- Electoral Reform Society founded in England in 1884, the longest running PR organization. Contains good information about Single Transferable VoteSingle transferable voteThe single transferable vote is a voting system designed to achieve proportional representation through preferential voting. Under STV, an elector's vote is initially allocated to his or her most preferred candidate, and then, after candidates have been either elected or eliminated, any surplus or...
-the Society's preferred form of PR - Electoral Reform Australia
- Proportional Representation Society of Australia
- Fair Vote Canada
- Why Not Proportional Representation?
- Vote Dilution means Voters have Less Voice Law is Cool site
- Proportional Representation and British Democracy Debate on British electoral system reform