This describes a practical method of electing proportional legislatures
while empowering every member of the electorate to the full extent of
each individual's desire and ability. It uses the 2010 Dutch
Parliamentary elections[1] for realistic size relationships between
parties contending for public office. The voting eligible population,
the distribution of voters among the political parties, and the number
of elective seats available are taken from this report which is used for
verisimilitude only.
The proportional distribution of the seats in the legislatures is
calculated using the reported turnout for each party as a percentage of
the voting eligible population. In the cited report, 9,442,977 people
(75.4% of the voting eligible population of 12,523,842) voted in 2010.
Of these, 9,312,710 voted for one of ten political parties. Since the
source material shows that seats were only allocated to members of
parties, we see that 130,267 voters and 3,080,865 non-voters were
unrepresented.
Since no electoral method that systematically excludes a large portion
of the electorate from representation can be called democratic, we
combine the latter two groups to form an 11th category (i.e., "None") of
3,211,132 people who are also entitled to representation.
Proportional Distribution of Legislative Seats
(based on Political Parties in the Netherlands - 2010)
House European Total
Party of Rep Senate Parliament Elective
Members seats seats seats Offices
Party* (2010) (150) (75) (25) (250)
----- ------ ----- ----- ----- --------
None 3,211,132 38 19 6 64
VVD 1,929,575 23 11 4 39
PvdA 1,848,805 22 11 4 37
PVV 1,454,493 17 9 3 29
CDA 1,281,886 15 8 3 26
SP 924,696 11 5 2 18
D66 654,167 8 4 1 13
GL 628,096 8 4 1 13
CU 305,094 4 2 1 6
SGP 163,581 2 1 0 3
PvdD 122,317 2 1 0 2
---- ---------- --- -- -- ---
Total 12,523,842 150 75 25 250
* Party abbreviations are taken from the cited report. The
party names have no significance for this description but
are available on request.
The electoral method is described in detail in the Practical Democracy
entry on Participedia[2] and in posts on the Election-Methods site on
02/04/08, 09/11/08 and 03/06/09. The members of each category of voters
(party) are divided into triads that select one participant to represent
the other two. Those so selected are again divided into triads and the
process continues, pyramid-wise, until a target number of candidates,
determined by those who implement the process, are selected. The method
of assigning selected individuals to public offices, which must adhere
to electoral district boundaries and other electoral strictures, is
implementation-dependent.
This electoral method features several noteworthy features:
* It includes every member of the electorate in the electoral
process.
* Each member of the electorate can participate in the process
to the full extent of their desire and ability.
* It is a bottom-up process. It lets the people decide what
issues concern them and who are the best people to address
those issues. (This is in contrast to the prevailing top-down
methodology that lets party leaders set the agenda and choose
the candidates the people will be allowed to elect.)
* It eliminates political campaigning and the corrosive effect
political campaigns have on society. It stops the corruption
that flows from soliciting campaign funds.
* It completes in less time than traditional, campaign-based
electoral methods. Furthermore, as each level completes,
approximately 2/3rds of the remaining participants have
fulfilled their civic obligation and are free to resume
their normal lives.
* It guarantees that all candidates are carefully examined to
determine their suitability for public office by people who
have an incentive to uncover their flaws. It creates a direct
link between a candidate's character and chance of election.
* It includes a simple, direct way for the people to guide or
instruct their candidates and, after the election is complete,
to recall elected officials.
The bottom-up nature of the Practical Democracy concept lets the people
impress their moral sense on their government.
Fred Gohlke
[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_the_Netherlands
[2] http://participedia.net/methods/practical-democracy
----
Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info
