On 13 Mar 2003 at 8:00, Dan Minette wrote: > > Dan Minette wrote: > > > > > > Germany has proportional representation. If there > > > are two big parties, each with 47.5% of the > > > legislature, then a party with 5% can claim a pretty > > > high price to make one of the two parties the top dog. > > > > > But, OTOH, I guess Germany elects the parliamentary > > representatives by majority vote. > > My understanding is that they actually use porportional > representation, not majority by district. That's why I singled out > Germany.
Umm... > >So, a party that has 49% of popularity but happens to be > > minority in every district would get 0% representativity > > [which, considering that _they_ once elected > > a certain chancellor with about 25% of popularity, > > might be a good solution for them O:-)] > > My understanding is that the party in question would have roughly half > the seats. Yup. Unlike the UK where the party would indeed get zero seats. How partial-list works: You have x districts. Each elects an MP. Once all MP's from the districts are elected, you look at the percentage of votes. You chuck out all parties with less than 5% of the vote (to keep the lunatic fringe out). You then give the parties the appropriate number of seats from their list so that the % of the vote is their % in the house. This both maintains the district-MP link, stops nutty parties from getting in and ensures adequate reprisentation of all mainstream views. IMO anyway. And it's LESS (although it can still happen) likely to cause coalition government than a pure list system like say Israel's. (where there ARE parties with 1-2 seats) Andy Dawn Falcon _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
