Proportional Representation

Proportional Representation (PR), form of electoral system in multi-party democracies. PR provides a share of legislative seats for all political parties competing for power proportional to the votes received, but often requires the securing of a minimum quota. The object is to reflect the support for a political party accurately in the legislature. It is designed to give a balanced image of public opinion within the legislative system. This is difficult to do accurately and, although it may be regarded as fair, it may lead to fragmented assemblies and weak government. Whilst PR allows for greater representation of political opinions in parliament, it often fails to provide a proportional share of government power. Small parties may be fairly represented in a parliament under PR, but they may still be powerless when government coalitions are formed. Those against PR argue that it does not create a stable and strong government because it makes government fractious; but those in favour argue that nonetheless it is truly democratic because it represents the true state of opinion.

Types of PR include: (1) the single transferable vote, which an elector may exercise once only, but with each vote taking the form of a schedule of preferences, so that if the candidate to whom the elector gives his first preference does not need the vote, then the vote can be transferred to the next candidate on the elector's list of preference; (2) party lists, of which there are different types, e.g. closed, with “no voter choice” as to the composition of the list, or open, as in Belgium, where a voter both chooses a party and expresses a preference for a candidate, so moving him/her up the list; (3) a quasi-list, as in Chile and Finland—here each voter votes for a specific candidate, all the votes for a party are added up, it is decided how many seats that party should have, and then that number of seats is allocated to candidates with the most individual votes. In some countries, such as Germany, both PR and single-member constituencies are combined.