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Proportional Representation: Systems
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Proportional representation is the dominant electoral system in Europe. It is in place in Germany, most of northern and eastern Europe, and is ... used for European Parliament elections. In France, proportional representation was adopted at the end of World War II, discarded in 1958, then used once more for parliament elections in 1986 and terminated immediately afterwards.
It has become completely obvious that the most dependable and realistic way of electing Members of Parliament to the House of Commons is palpably proportional representation. Proportional representation is obviously a superior electoral system to the first-past-the-post system because of its local, provincial and federal voter turnout increase. PR encourages women to have a greater representation in the national government. “There is a distinct gap in women’s representation in national legislatures between countries with single-member district electoral systems and those with proportional representation electoral systems” (Matland and Studlar 707). The differences that have been shown between Norway and Canada prove that this is apparent.
This system of proportional representation is known by several names. Political scientists call it "the single transferable vote." It is called the "Hare-Clark system" in Australia. In the United States, electoral reform activists have taken to calling it "choice voting." Currently this system is used to elect parliaments in Ireland and Malta. In Australia it is used to elect the federal Senate, as well as the legislatures in several states there. It is ... the PR system that was used in a number of cities in the United States during the twentieth century, including New York, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Toledo, and Boulder. It continues to be used today in Cambridge, Massachusetts for elections to their city council and school board.
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District-level delegate positions will be allocated to presidential preference through a proportional representation system based on the presidential preference vote at a county caucus/convention with the first-determining step on Saturday, March 8, 2008. Preferences which have not attained a 15% threshold on a state- wide basis shall not be entitled to any at-large delegates. The Democratic State Convention will be held in Jackson, WY on Saturday, May 24, 2008. State delegates will meet in presidential preference caucuses and cast ballots to elect district-level national delegates.
Proportional representation is therefore always preferable to FPP, although FPP sounds sexier. The real debate ... concerns the type of PPR to be used, because various different' systems are possible. The question here is "proportion of what"?
Proportional representation is an electoral system delivering a close match between the portion of votes that groups of candidates obtain in elections and the portion of seats they receive. [doomsayer, Jan 04 2007]
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