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Proportional representation
From Ballotpedia
Proportional representation is an electoral system in which the number of seats held by a particular political party in a legislature is directly determined by the number of votes the political party's candidates receive in a given election. For example, in a five-winner district with proportional representation, if party A received 40 percent of the vote and party B received 60 percent of the vote, party A would win two seats and party B would win three seats.[1][2]
Systems of proportionality
Various forms of proportional representation exist, including the following:
- In a party-list system, the elector votes for a party's list of candidates instead of a single candidate. Each party then receives a share of the seats proportional to the share of votes it received.[3][4]
- In a single transferable vote (STV) system, voters rank their choice of candidates on the ballot instead of voting for just one candidate.[3][4]
- In an additional-member system, each elector casts two votes instead of one. On a double ballot, the elector chooses a candidate and also his or her party of choice among those listed.[3][4]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ FairVote, "Electoral Systems," accessed August 3, 2017
- ↑ ACE: The Electoral Knowledge Network, "Electoral Systems," accessed August 3, 2017
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Encyclopedia Britannica, "Proportional representation," accessed March 30, 2014
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Mount Holyoke.edu: PR Library, "Proportional Representation Voting Systems," accessed April 29, 2014
