Personalized proportional representation

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The personalized proportional representation ( English mixed-member proportional representation , MMP) is a mixed electoral system ( English mixed electoral system ), which in the German federal elections and in Parliament - various other options and English-speaking countries is applied.

description

A personalized proportional representation consists of two parts, a proportional representation and a majority vote . Therefore, two votes per voter are to be given.

Some of the MPs are elected via electoral lists drawn up by the respective parties. The number of MPs who are considered elected on the respective lists of the parties and are thus allowed to move into parliament is determined according to the proportion of votes that the parties were able to unite.

Another part of the MPs is directly elected through constituencies in which candidates stand for election. For this purpose, the country is divided into a number of constituencies, in which usually only one candidate can be elected. Whoever was able to collect the most votes is elected.

The Federal Republic of Germany was the first country to introduce such an electoral system in 1949, in the elections to the German Bundestag.

Use in English speaking countries

New Zealand

In 1993, voters in New Zealand decided in a referendum to abolish the traditional majority voting system (" first past the post " - FPTP) and to introduce the mixed-member proportional voting system for the next general election . The criticism of the existing electoral system at the time was that the composition of the parliament no longer corresponded to the will of the voters. As early as 1881 and from 1889 to 1903 there had been deviations from the existing majority voting system. At that time, in order to better respect the will of the voters, two or even three candidates with the two or three highest proportions of votes were elected in individual electoral districts.

Due to the decision to introduce the MMP system, the electoral districts in New Zealand were reorganized in 1995 and the country was divided into 60 general constituencies and an additional five constituencies for Māori . In 1996 the first parliamentary election took place under the new electoral system. From 1996 to 2011 none of the New Zealand parties won an absolute majority of the parliamentary seats and coalitions had to be formed. This is why the MMP system came under increasing criticism, which was based on the fact that smaller parties would get too much power in coalitions that had to be formed. In order to take account of the criticism and to check the will of the electorate, a referendum was held on November 26, 2011, in which almost 58% of New Zealand's eligible voters were in favor of maintaining the MMP system.

For the 2014 General Election , the country was divided into 71 constituencies, 48 ​​of them on the North Island , 16 on the South Island and 7 for Māori . With 120 parliamentary seats without overhanging seats, 49 seats remain for distribution by proportional representation. In this respect, the current New Zealand system deviates from the original split for direct mandates and list mandates and differs in this respect from the German electoral system.

Lesotho

The first free election in what would later become Lesotho was held in April 1965 under the majority system (“ first past the post ”). The first election after independence was in January 1970, but the election was canceled. It was not until March 1993 that free elections took place again under the old electoral system. After a party won 79 of the 80 seats in 1998, a lengthy dispute about the political representation of the people and the type of electoral system followed. In 2001 the discussion ended with the decision to hold a new election under a fairer electoral system. In 2002 this election took place under the modified mixed-member-proportional system that has been in force for parliamentary elections in Lesotho since then. 80 MPs are directly elected and 40 are distributed according to proportional representation to - based on 120 seats - disproportionately mandated parties. Each voter only has one vote.

Scotland

In 1999, Scotland got its own, self-elected parliament for the first time in its history. Scotland has not had a parliament of its own since the Act of Union was signed in 1707, when Scotland gave up its sovereignty and united with the Kingdom of England to form the Kingdom of Great Britain . Previously, the parliament was not elected by the people.

In the 1999 election, Scottish voters decided not to adopt the majority voting system (" first past the post ") of the British Westminster system , but instead chose their own system, which they called the Additional Member System (AMS), which was im But the core is the mixed-member-proportional system. In a departure from the German electoral system, in which direct mandates and list mandates each contribute half to the formation of parliament, the Scottish system awards 73 direct mandates over the individual constituencies and 56 seats via proportional representation with 129 parliamentary seats. For this purpose, Scotland is divided into eight regions, from each of which seven candidates are elected according to proportional representation via the lists of the parties. In Scotland, too, the first vote applies to the direct mandate and the second vote to the list mandate. There is no provision for overhang mandates.

Wales

Even Wales got his first self-elected parliament in the 1999th As in Scotland, the Welsh voters opted for the Additional Member System (see above). In Wales, 40 of the 60 seats in the Welsh Parliament have been directly elected since then . The remaining 20 seats will be allocated through proportional representation. For this purpose, Wales was divided into five regions, in each of which four candidates are elected from the lists of the parties according to proportional representation.

Application in other countries

The personalized proportional representation, which was first used in Germany when the Federal Republic of Germany was founded, was a. also introduced in Bolivia , Venezuela and Hungary .

literature

  • Janine Hayward (Ed.): New Zealand Government and Politics . 6th edition. Oxford University Press , Melbourne 2015, ISBN 978-0-19-558525-4 (English).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The road to MMP - Introduction . In: New Zealand History . New Zealand Ministry for Culture & Heritage , August 5, 2014, accessed October 26, 2015 .
  2. ^ The road to MMP - First past the post . In: New Zealand History . New Zealand Ministry for Culture & Heritage , December 20, 2012, accessed October 26, 2015 .
  3. ^ The road to MMP - 1996 and beyond - the road to MMP . In: New Zealand History . New Zealand Ministry for Culture & Heritage , June 10, 2014, accessed October 26, 2015 .
  4. ^ Electoral systems - MMP in practice . In: Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand . New Zealand Ministry for Culture & Heritage , February 17, 2015, accessed October 26, 2015 .
  5. ^ Therese Arseneau, Nigel S. Roberts : The MMP Electoral System . In: New Zealand Government and Politics . 2015, chapter 5.1, p.  276 (English).
  6. ^ The National Assembly . Lesotho Government , archived from the original on February 20, 2015 ; accessed on October 26, 2015 (English, original website no longer available).
  7. ^ A b The Electoral System for the Scottish Parliament . The Scottish Government , accessed October 27, 2015 .
  8. ^ The National Assembly Election 2011 . (PDF 598 kB) Welsh Government , accessed on October 27, 2015 (English).
  9. ↑ Mixed-Member Proportional Voting . Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts . Retrieved October 26, 2015 .