CPO-2002 Lecture Notes - Lecture 59: Open List, Closed List, Free Party
Document Summary
All pr systems either employ quotas or divisors to determine how many seats each party wins. A divisor, or highest average, system divides the total number of votes won by each party in a district by a series of numbers (divisors) to obtain quotients. District seats are then allocated according to which parties have the highest quotients. The different electoral formulas influence how proportionally votes are translated into seats. However, the key variable for determining the proportionality of an electoral system is the district magnitude. The district magnitude is the number of representatives elected in a district. The larger the district magnitude, the greater the degree of proportionality. Although all pr systems use multimember districts, the average size of these districts can vary quite a lot. In the netherlands and slovakia, the average district magnitude is 150. In chile, the average district magnitude is 2.
