Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a system used to elect people, usually to a country's parliament or other type of legislature proportional to the percentage of votes they recieve.
Proportional representation works by taking the results of an election to decide how many seats each political party receives. It is calculated out of a political party's total number of votes in the election what that number is as a percentage (%) of all the votes cast in the election. This percentage is then equal to the amount of votes the party will receive. For example, if a party gets 20% of the vote, it will receive 20% of the seats in the legislature. Most countries have a minimum percentage a party has to receive to get seats. This minimum is usually between 3% and 5% of the total overall vote.[1]
Another way to run an election is the first-past-the-post system in which constituencies vote in one member. The United Kingdom works this way.
In most western countries, there is more than one political party. Most elected representatives will be a member of one or another party. If one party has an overall majority, then it forms the government. Otherwise the government must have members of more than one party.
Countries which use proportional representation include: Austria, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.
Countries which have systems that are similar or use semi-proportional representation include: Australia, Germany, Hungary, India, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, and Thailand.
Similar principles apply to sub-regions, who may have their own parliament or assembly.
Sometimes there's a quota, an example is Germany, with a 5% quota for the Bundestag
Example
| 2025 Australian Election | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Votes | Percentage | Seats | |
| Labor | 5,354,138 | 34.56% | 52 | |
| Liberal's | 4,340,624 | 28.02% | 42 | |
| Nationals | 588,778 | 3.80% | 6 | |
| Greens | 1,889,977 | 12.20% | 18 | |
| One Nation | 991,814 | 6.40% | 10 | |
| Independents and Others | 2,324,905 | 14.98% | 22 | |
| Total | 15,490,236 | 100% | 150 | |
Calculation
To calculate Proportional Representation, you need to divide the number of votes for a party to the total number of seats in the election and once divided you times the number by 100 to finally get the results
3001000 [math]\displaystyle{ = 0.3 }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ \times 100 =30 }[/math]
Proportional Representation Media
Example for party list PR seat allocation
Simplified example of an STV ballot
Example seat allocation in mixed system (FPTP)
Example of compensatory seats in mixed systems (MMP/additional member system)
Example of mixed compensatory seat allocation
Example for party list PR seat allocation
Example seat allocation in mixed system (FPTP)
Example of supplementary seats (non-compensatory) allocation in mixed systems (parallel/MMM)
Example of non-compensatory allocation in mixed systems (parallel/MMM)
References
- ↑ Difford, Dylan (3 September 2021). "Barriers to entry: How do electoral thresholds work?". Electoral Reform Society (ERS). https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/barriers-to-entry-how-do-electoral-thresholds-work/. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
