Apportionment by country
Apportionment by country describes the practices used in various democratic countries around the world for partitioning seats in the parliament among districts or parties. See apportionment (politics) for the general principles and issues related to apportionment.
Australia
The
In the Australian Senate, each state is represented by 12 senators. Tasmania, with a population of 534,000, elects the same number of senators as New South Wales, with a population of almost 8.1 million. Equal representation of the states in the Senate is written into the Constitution, intended to protect the interests of smaller states. Amending the Constitution to repeal the equal representation can only be done through a national referendum.[1] However, the specific number of Senate seats allocated to the States is not constitutionally defined, and can be modified by legislation. Starting from six seats for each state in 1901, it was increased to 10 in 1948, then to 12 in 1984. Territories are not guaranteed Senate representation by the Constitution, and were unrepresented until 1975, when legislation was passed granting each territory two seats in the Senate. The Senate's present size is 76 seats.
There has been malapportionment of electorates in both the federal and state parliaments in the past, typically in the form of rural areas receiving disproportionately more seats than urban areas. Supporters of these arrangements claimed Australia's urban population dominates the countryside, and that these practices gave fair representation to country people. Such systems were in place in
Canada
In Canada, each federal electoral district ("riding") is represented by one Member of Parliament (MP). Ridings are based on population, but each territory is also given an MP; so Nunavut receives one MP even though its population in 2006 was only 29,474.
Certain provisions in the Constitution and law (the "grandfather clause" and the "senatorial clause") guarantee that provinces cannot have fewer MPs than they had in 1982.[2] The apportionment method is to grant one MP to each territory, and allocate 279 other MPs according to population among the 10 provinces. After doing so, the provinces with slower historical population growth since joining the Confederation receive extra ridings so as not to lose MPs. After the 1991 Census, 19 extra ridings were created, making a total of 301. After the 2001 Census, seven more ridings were created, making a total of 308.
That ridings were not eliminated but only added created huge disparities. For example, in 2006 the Peace River riding in Alberta had a population of 138,009, whilst Charlottetown riding in Prince Edward Island had a population of 32,174; yet both ridings received equal representation in the House of Commons. Rural ridings even in populous provinces also tended to have more constituents than urban ridings.
The Fair Representation Act, passed in 2011 and effective for the federal election that took place in 2015, specified a uniform "electoral quotient" of 111,166 (to be readjusted after each future census) but again ensured that no province would lose ridings, increasing the size of the House of Commons to 338.[3]
European Parliament
Japan
Since electoral system of Shugiin was changed to Parallel voting in 1994, each prefecture has been guaranteed one seat apportionment regardless of its population. This apportionment method was called "separated one method" and the supreme court judged that the system is under unconstitutional state in 2009, 2012, and 2016.
In 2017, electoral districts were rearranged so that every district does not have twice as large population as another district.
Kazakhstan
In the lower chamber Mäjilis, 29 out of total seats are apportioned in the administrative-territorial units which includes regions, cities of republican significance, and the capital of Astana. Each subdivision is guaranteed to have at least one representative district. The redistribution of boundaries is based on the number of registered voters in each legislative district, with the requirement that the difference in the number of voters does not exceed 20% of the average number of voters per seat in the specific administrative-territorial unit within the districts of the region.[4]
Malaysia
The voters in rural districts are over-represented in Malaysia while the urban districts are under-represented. The largest parliamentary seat (Kapar) is nine times larger than the smallest one (Putrajaya). On average, the rural parliamentary seats are over-represented by six times compared to the urban seats.[5]
New Zealand
Between 1881 and 1945 New Zealand applied a system of malapportionment called the country quota, which required urban districts to contain more people than rural ones but did not give them any equivalent increase in representation.
Norway
Out of the 169 seats in the Storting, 150 are apportioned among the 11 Counties of Norway with deliberate bias in favor of rural areas. The number of seats for a county is decided using a formula in which a county receives 1 point for every inhabitant and 1.8 points for every square kilometer of land area. However, the bias is reduced by the 19 compensation seats, which are given to parties that are underrepresented. Thus the system does not have a great effect on the partisan composition of the Storting, but does result in more MPs coming from rural counties. Electoral researcher Bernt Aardal calculated that if the 2009 parliamentary election had been conducted without this bias, the Labour Party and Progress Party would both have lost a seat, while the Red Party and Liberal Party would each have gained one, reducing the majority of the Red-Green Coalition from 3 seats to 1.[6]
Slovakia
The difference in electorates between the districts was a matter before the Constitutional Court and UN Human Rights Committee, both of which found the rights of a candidate not elected in a district with larger electorate to be violated, but did not request new elections.[7]
South Africa
In the
Spain
The
In the Spanish Senate each of the forty-seven mainland provinces are assigned four seats, while the three largest islands are allocated three seats each, and the seven smaller islands one each. The North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla are allocated two seats each. Additionally, the legislative assemblies of the seventeen autonomous communities into which the provinces of Spain are grouped are entitled to appoint at least one Senator each, as well as one senator for every million voters. The result is a bias in favour of mainly rural areas. For example, the community of Madrid with 4,458,540 voters in 2004 has 9 senators while Castilla y León with 2,179,521 voters has a total of 39 senators.
United Kingdom
The number of electors in a
- Legislation; beginning with the Redistribution of Seats Act 1958, which replaced an electoral quota (ideal population) for the whole United Kingdom with four separate quotas: England 69,534; Northern Ireland 67,145, Wales 58,383, and Scotland 54,741 voters per constituency.
- Decisions of the four UK Boundary Commissionsto favour geographically "natural" districts.
- Population migrations between boundary reviews, which have tended to decrease the number of voters in inner-city districts
From the next General Election the maximum disparity in size of local electorates will be less, about fourfold, from Scotland's Na h-Eileanan an Iar (21,837 voters) and Orkney and Shetland (33,755), to England's East Ham (91,531), and the Isle of Wight (110,924).
AVG electors | % Variation in electors (standard deviation) | Smallest seat (as % of average) | Largest seat (as % of average) | % of seats within 5% of national limit | % of seats within 10% of national limit | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2010 | 70,150 | 11.1 | 32 | 157 | 37 | 69 |
2013 proposal | 76,408 | 2.2 | 29 | 105 | 99 | 99.5 |
2015 | 69,016 | 11.3 | 32 | 153 | 41 | 68 |
2017 | 70,997 | 11.8 | 30 | 155 | 37 | 67 |
2019 |
Periodic reviews by the Boundary Commissions are submitted to the House of Commons for approval, primarily to prevent the reemergence of any new
United States
Apportionment at the
As the Constitution's apportionment procedures are established solely for the states in the Union, neither the District of Columbia nor the country's territories are included. Therefore, they do not have the same representation in the federal government as states do.
Senate
Under Article I, Section 3, of the U.S. Constitution, each state has two seats in the Senate. This equality of representation is shielded from being amended by Article V which specifies that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of having the same number of seats as the others. (Neither the District of Columbia, nor the country's territories and possessions have representation in the Senate, as they are not states.)
Senators from each state were originally elected by that state's legislature, and influenced only indirectly by the voters, through their election of state legislators. The 17th Amendment, ratified in 1913, provided for direct election of U.S. Senators. It did not however, change the principle of equal representation of the states in the Senate, which, as James Madison noted in The Federalist No. 39, ensures a polity of mixed sovereignty, one in which the states are an integral part of the federal government. This, of course, is precisely why those who think the Constitution not democratic enough would wish to remove that portion of the Constitution.[18] The 38 million people who live in the nation's 22 least populous states are represented by 44 senators, while the 38 million residents of California, the most populous state, are represented by two.[19]
House
However, here too, other criteria take precedence over exact equality of representation. In 2012, the Supreme Court endorsed Tennant v. Jefferson County the use of other criteria, including the legislature's reluctance to move voters between districts, to put incumbent Congressmen in the same district, and to divide counties between districts, when the State of West Virginia redrew its three Congressional districts with a disparity of 0.79% between the most populous and least populous district.
Washington, D.C. and the five territories are instead represented by non-voting delegates. These delegates may vote on legislation in committee but not on floor votes for enactment.
President
The U.S. president is elected only indirectly by voters, through the
Washington, D.C., did not have a voice in the selection of the president until 1961, when the 23rd Amendment was ratified, giving D.C. the treatment of a state in the Electoral College ("but in no event more than the least populous State"; that is, three electors, increasing the total number of electors to 538).
U.S. territories still have no voice in the selection of the President. In 2000, Puerto Rico attempted to include the U.S. presidential election on its ballots, knowing that the Electoral College would not count its result. However, the move was declared unconstitutional by the First Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Presidential ballot was not handed out to voters on election day.[20]
A separate obstacle to proportional representation is that almost all of the states choose electors on a
The Electoral College denies voters equal influence in the presidential election. It encourages political campaigners to focus on so-called
In the event that the Electoral College does not produce a majority for any candidate, the 12th Amendment (roughly as Article II, Section 1 had done) throws the election to the U.S. House (the U.S. Senate choosing the Vice President), but under a procedure where each state's delegation, regardless of size, casts one vote—thus giving smaller states more voting power in the event of a deadlock than larger states. For example, Wyoming, with only one representative, has the same power as California, with 53 representatives.
State legislatures
In most states, the
The United States government was a construct of the thirteen states, and the Constitution's only original constraint on the states was, in Article IV, Section 4, that the federal government "guarantee to every state... a republican form of government." Though the Fourteenth Amendment contains the Equal Protection Clause and bars the states from "abridging" voting rights, the text does not address apportionment.
Instead, most state legislatures imitated the Congress, in which the lower house is apportioned by population, while the upper house is apportioned by some other criterion. For example, each
A state may draw districts that span political subdivisions and
The basis of apportionment has also been litigated. In Evenwel v. Abbott (2016), a unanimous Supreme Court ruled[27] that "constitutional history, precedent, and practice" support basing districts on total population rather than voting-eligible population, resulting in inequality of the number of votes cast.
Prospects for change
Arguments for or against change to these institutions often have political overtones. The
Many changes would require amendment of the Constitution. But the procedure for doing this also contains protections for states with low populations. Article V, Section 1 requires any amendments to be ratified by three-fourths of the states (currently 38). Most small states would refuse to ratify any amendment that nullified their traditional advantages.
Several states have joined the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, pledging that their legislatures will direct their presidential electors to vote for whichever presidential candidate wins the national popular vote. This would partly counteract the advantage the Electoral College gives to low-population states, though it might reduce the joiners' influence during presidential campaigns.
References
- ^ "Parliament of Australia: Senate: The Senate: a short description". Aph.gov.au. 2006-03-02. Archived from the original on 5 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-18.
- ^ "Elections Canada | Representation in the House of Commons of Canada". Archived from the original on 2010-12-09. Retrieved 2010-11-11.
- ^ 30 more MPs for rebalanced House of Commons, CBC News, October 26, 2011.
- ^ ""Қазақстан Республикасы Парламенті Мәжілісінің және мәслихаттарының депутаттарын сайлау бойынша сайлау округтерін құру тәртібі туралы" Қазақстан Республикасы Орталық сайлау комиссиясының 2022 жылғы 22 қарашадағы № 110/604 Қаулысы (2022.27.12. берілген өзгерістермен)". Информационная система ПАРАГРАФ (in Kazakh). Retrieved 2023-07-14.
- ^ "One rural vote worth six urban ballots, favours BN, analysts say". Archived from the original on 2013-12-24.
- ^ "Rødgrønt flertall uansett valgordning". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). September 28, 2009.
- ^ Human Rights Committee views in case Mátyus v. Slovakia, CCPR/C/75/D/923/2000, 2002
- ^ "Election Resources on the Internet: Elections to the Spanish Congress of Deputies". Electionresources.org. Retrieved 2010-04-18.
- ^ "Election Resources on the Internet: Elections to the Spanish Congress of Deputies - Results Lookup". Electionresources.org. Retrieved 2010-04-18.
- ^ "Election Resources on the Internet: Elections to the Spanish Congress of Deputies - Results Lookup". Electionresources.org. Retrieved 2010-04-18.
- ^ "Election Resources on the Internet: Elections to the Spanish Congress of Deputies - Results Lookup". Electionresources.org. Retrieved 2010-04-18.
- ^ "Election Resources on the Internet: Elections to the Spanish Congress of Deputies - Results Lookup". Electionresources.org. Retrieved 2010-04-18.
- ^ "Election Resources on the Internet: Elections to the Spanish Congress of Deputies - Results Lookup". Electionresources.org. Retrieved 2010-04-18.
- ^ Baston, Lewus. "Britain's unequally sized constituencies are a non existent problem, to which the coalition government has adopted an extreme and perhaps unworkable solution". LSE. Retrieved 2018-08-07.
- ^ "Electoral statistics, UK: 2015". ONS. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
- ^ "Electoral statistics, UK: 2017". ONS. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
- ^ "Congressional Apportionment". Washington, D.C.: Office of the Historian and the Clerk of the House Office of Art and Archives, United States House of Representatives. Retrieved February 4, 2018.
- ^ Rossum, Ralph. "Prohibition on Amendment: Equal Suffrage in the Senate". The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved December 30, 2016.
- ^ Liptak, Adam (March 11, 2013). "Smaller States Find Outsize Clout Growing in Senate". The New York Times. Retrieved December 10, 2016.
- ^ "Puerto Rico Presidential Election Cancelled". The Green Papers: News. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
- OCLC 607985767.
- ^ "The Electoral College – Maine and Nebraska".
- ^ Katrina vanden Heuvel (November 7, 2012). "It's Time to End the Electoral College". The Nation. Retrieved November 8, 2012.
- ^ For example, in Burling v. Chandler, 148 NH 143 the New Hampshire supreme court had no problem that various redistricting proposals had partisan motives, though this observation prompted it to mandate its own redistricting map rather than endorse any of the submissions.
- ^ For example, the Alabama state legislature failed to reapportion either the state House or Senate from 1901 until 1972. By 1960, 25% of the population could elect a majority, and white and rural interests dominated the legislature. See Dr. Michael McDonald, "US Elections Project: Alabama Redistricting Summary", George Mason University, accessed 6 Apr 2008 Archived October 17, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ The article on floterial districts discusses litigation in New Hampshire that showed that pursuit of equality of representation involves trade-offs; in that case, proximity of representatives to the voters.
- ^ Evenwel v. Abbott
External links
- P.A. Madison's historical review of the 14th amendment's apportionment clause. Archived 2011-07-09 at the Wayback Machine
- Reapportionment and Redistricting in the US an article from the ACE Project
- Explanation of the 1991 and 1992 US Supreme Court cases challenging the use of the method of equal proportions
- The House of Representatives Apportionment Formula: An Analysis of Proposals for Change and Their Impact on States
- The Controversy Over Apportionment, Alfred de Grazia, 1968