Civic · 6 pages · 12 min

How proportional representation spends seats

Proportional representation hands out seats so a party's seats roughly follow its votes.

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From the opening

Proportional representation spends legislative seats so that a party's share of seats is meant to track its share of votes, within the limits of whole seats. Instead of giving every district's entire prize to one winner, it accumulates votes and pays seats out of that pool. The opening covers seats track pooled vote shares, quotas and divisors pay them out, and small districts stay coarse.

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Inside

Seats track pooled vote shares
Quotas and divisors pay them out
Small districts stay coarse
Remainders decide the last seat
Where the idea stops applying
A distinction worth keeping

Sources

Party-list proportional representation
D'Hondt and Sainte-Lague divisors

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How proportional representation spends seats

From the opening

Inside

Sources

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