Proportional Representation

proportional representation: see representation.

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proportional representation

Electoral system in which the share of seats held by a political party in the legislature closely matches the share of popular votes it received. It was devised in Europe in the mid-19th century to guarantee minority groups more representation than was possible under the majority or plurality systems. Its supporters claim that it creates a more accurate reflection of public opinion; its opponents argue that by allowing more parties in a legislature, it may result in weaker, less stable governments. Two methods for apportioning seats are the single-transferable-vote method, under which voters rank candidates by preference, and the list system, under which voters select a party's list of candidates rather than individuals. Some countries (e.g., Germany and Russia) use a combination of plurality and proportional methods for allocating seats in the lower house of the national legislature. See also legislative apportionment.

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proportional representation

Politics representation of parties in an elective body in proportion to the votes they win

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Proportional Representation 

in bourgeois electoral law, a means of determining the results of a vote, according to which the distribution of seats among parties that have nominated candidates for a representative body conforms with the number of votes received. Under proportional representation large electoral districts are established in which each party nominates its own slate of candidates and the voter casts his vote for a party’s slate. To determine the results of the vote, an electoral yardstick (or quota) is set, that is, a minimum number of votes needed to obtain one seat. The seats within a party’s slate are generally distributed in conformity with the order in which the candidates are listed; such a slate is termed a connected slate.

Proportional representation exists in Italy, Belgium, Finland, and elsewhere. In a number of countries, including Australia and India, a form of proportional representation called preferential voting is used in presidential elections.

In the bourgeois multiparty system, proportional representation is the most democratic way of determining the results of a vote, since the bodies elected in this manner are more representative in character. The Communist and workers’ parties of capitalist states make demands for proportional representation, but bourgeois states are reluctant to accept this, since they fear an increase in the number of workers’ representatives in elected bodies. Most bourgeois states use the majority system of representation.