Proportional Systems

What is a Proportional System?

A system where the results of an election reflects the votes cast

Two main systems of PR?

List system

Single transferable vote (STV)

How does the Party-List Systems work?

Parties present a list of candidates

Voters cast their votes for a party rather than individual candidates

Seats are then allocated to each party in proportion to the number of votes they receive.

How does the Regional-List System work?

Candidates are selected from a list of candidates in specific regions.

Voters choose a party, and seats are allocated based on the proportion of votes received in each region.

How does an Open-List System work?

Voters can express preferences for individual candidates within a party's list

The seats are then allocated based on the total votes received by the party and the preferences shown for its candidates.

Advantages of the List System?

Greater representation of political views

Encourages voter participation

Better distribution of seats among parties based on their electoral support.

Disadvantages of the List System?

Voters don’t have a real choice over individual candidates

Link between representatives and constituencies are broken

How does STV work?

Voters to rank candidates in order of preference

Votes are transferred between candidates based on voter preferences until all seats are filled.

What is the quota for STV

(Number of votes cast/Number of seats+1)+1

Advantages of STV

Proportional→ closest correlation of votes to seats

Greatest degree of choice

Likely to choice someone who represents your ideology

Diadvantages of STV?

Complicated

Takes a long time to count

Likely to produce coalition governments