There was a discussion about Borda count here for the last few weeks. I wander if anybody on the list actualy knows which countries use Borda system in their national elections? I know that my country, Slovenia, uses it.
In Slovenian parliamentary elections two of the 90 members are elected in single-member districts according to Borda system (the other 88 members are elected with Droop and D'Hondt quota system). Law states that "A voter shall vote by indicating his preferential order of candidates in front of the names of the candidates, starting with number 1." (National Assembly Election Act, Art. 74). "Points shall be assigned to candidates according to orders of preference. For each first place the candidate shall receive as many points as there were candidates on the ballot paper, and for each successive place a point less. The points of each candidate shall be totaled."(Art. 95). Therefore, if a candidate on a 5-candidate ballot only votes for one candidate, this candidate will receive 5 points and the others zero. This is opposite to what Saari and the others here on the list are proposing. However, there is no basis in the law to give to this candidate only one point or to give the others "average" of 2.5 points. Law clearly sais "For the first place the candidate shall receive as many points as there were candidates on the ballot paper." It is also impossible to call this ballot null since the law sais that "A ballot paper shall be valid if it is clear which candidate he voted for." (art. 76). These districts are quite small - one has 2000 and the other 8000 voters. This means that if a group of few hundred voters deliberately voted for only one candidate this would make a big difference in result. However, the law stating "for each successive place a point less" could also be interpreted that the chosen candidate on a 5-candidate ballot would get 5 points and the others 4 points. But it is not interpreted this way I guess. Does anybody know how do other countries that use Borda treat such ballots? The election act of Slovenia is available at http://www.sigov.si/elections/zvdz.html Happy new year to everybody, Jurij
