Preferential votes and minority representation in open list proportional representation systems
Abstract
Under open list proportional representation, voters vote both for a party and for some candidates within its list (preferential vote). Seats are assigned to parties in proportion to their votes and, within parties, to the candidates obtaining the largest number of preferential votes. The paper examines how the number of candidates voters can vote for affects the representation of minorities in parliaments. I highlight a clear negative relationship between the two. Minorities are proportionally represented in parliament only if voters can cast a limited number of preferential votes. When the number of preferential votes increases, a multiplier effect arises, which disproportionately increases the power of the majority in determining the elected candidates.
Citation
Negri , M 2018 , ' Preferential votes and minority representation in open list proportional representation systems ' , Social Choice and Welfare , vol. 50 , no. 2 , pp. 281-303 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s00355-017-1084-2
Publication
Social Choice and Welfare
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0176-1714Type
Journal article
Rights
© The Author(s) 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
Description
The author is grateful to FNRS for their financial support.Collections
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