Proportional representation

Proportional representation (PR) is any election system which ensures a proportionally representative result of a democratic election, x% of votes should be represented by x% in the democratic institutions, parliament or congress.

Disproportionality

The constituency magnitude of a system (i.e. the number of seats in a constituency) plays a vital role in determining how proportional an electoral system can be. When using proportional systems, the greater the number of seats in a constituency, the more proportional it can be. Any system with single-member constituency is by necessity majoritarian - at that level. However constituency borders may be gerrymandered to allow for simulation of proportionality at a higher level. 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.

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However, multiple-member districts do not ensure that an electoral system will be proportional. The bloc vote can result in "super-majoritarian" results in which, in addition to the normal disproportionality of single-member majoritarian systems, geographical variations that could create majority-minority districts become subsumed into the larger districts.

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There is also another cause of disproportionality within some proportional systems. This is when the party does not provide a list with enough people on it to fill all the seats won by a political party. For instance if a party wins 20 seats but only has 15 people on its list then it loses 5 seats. This is termed an underhang.

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Some proportional systems deliberately limit the amount of proportionality by requiring a party list to achieve the election threshold - a certain minimum percentage of votes to receive any seats. Typically, this lower limit will be set at between three and six percent of the total number of votes cast. Parties who do not reach that margin will not be represented in parliament, thus making majorities and coalitions easier to achieve. Proponents of election thresholds argue that they discourage voting for what they may see as extremist parties - that are likely to be small. Opponents of thresholds argue that they cause so-called "proportional" systems to unfairly distribute the representation of the supporters of minor parties to the major parties, thus giving the parties which cross the threshold disproportionally high percentages of the seats and creating the possibility that a party or group of parties will assume control of the legislature without gaining a majority of votes.

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