Page 279 - DPOL202_COMPARATIVE_POLITICS_AND_GOVERNMENT_ENGLISH

Comparative Politics and Government

Notes has its application (as in France) where the election is cancelled if no candidate gets absolute majority
of votes and it is held again in which only two candidates (who had secured highest number of votes
in the cancelled election) are allowed to contest. In Ireland single transferable vote system has been
adopted for the same purpose.
In multi-member constituencies the most usual electoral system is some form of proportional
representation, the chief advantage of which is to obtain a more accurate parliamentary representation
of electoral opinion, it may be that the country as a whole is reduced to a single constituency with as
many seats as possible as we find in Israel, Monaco and the Netherlands. Here parliamentary
representation is allocated to parties in proportion to votes received in the country as a whole. It may
also be that the country as a whole is divided into certain groups, each group having as many seats as
possible as we find 23,28 and 32 parliamentary seats respectively in Denmark, Sweden and Italy.
Proportional Representation: The model of proportional representation stands on the principle that
the votes should be ‘weighed, not counted’. It has three ingredients: (i) there is a multi-member
constituency; (ii) a candidate is elected not by gaining an absolute or relative majority but by obtaining
a quota of votes that is equivalent to total number of votes cast and divided by the number of seats to
be filled, and (iii) there is a mathematically exact, as far as possible, representation of the electorate in
the legislature.
A question arises as to how proportional representation system can be put to application. For this
sake, two methods have been evolved— single transferable vote system and list system. They may
be discussed as under:
1. Single Transferable Vote System: It was first evolved by a Danish minister Carl Andrae in
1793 that was presented in a refined form by Thomas Hare in England in 1851. It is sometimes
called the Hare System. Hare, however, could not make it free from the basic defect that has
now been removed. According to this system, the voter is given a paper having names and
symbols of all candidates on its left side and blank columns on its right side. He has to fill these
blank columns with figures of 1,2,3 and so in order to mark his order of preferences. He may fill
all the columns or some of them, but it is required that the marking of preferences should be
done correctly, otherwise his ballot paper shall be declared invalid.
At the time of counting, all invalid papers are cancelled and the total number of valid ballot
papers is divided by the number of seats to be filled up plus 1, and then the figure of 1 is added
to the quotient. In case the remainder is more than half of the denominator, the figure of 1 is
further added to the quotient. This is called electoral quota. This formula may be presented
thus:

Total no. of valid votes
Electoral Quota = + 1
Total no. of seats +1

For instance, if there are 107 votes polled in an election and out of which 17 are declared invalid,
then there remain 90 valid votes. If the total number of seats is 4, the electoral quota would be:
90 ÷ 5 = 18 + 1 = 19
After this, counting begins.
A candidate securing votes equal to or more than that of the quota is declared successful. If
some seats remain vacant, the candidate having least number of votes is eliminated and his
votes are transferred to other candidates according to the order of second preference marked
by him. This process continues and votes are transferred according to subsequent preferences
until all the seats are filled up, or only the required number of candidates remains in the field
after the elimination of other candidates. In this way, only those candidates are declared elected
who obtain the quota after the transfer of surplus votes or the votes of those candidates who
have procured the least number of votes at the polls and are, therefore, progressively eliminated.
2. List System: Here the candidates are grouped in lists according to the labels of their political
parties. Each party submits a list of its chosen candidates equal to the number of seats to be

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