PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION, an electoral arrangement designed to secure that the representative assembly shall be an exact reflection, a "snapshot," of the voting strength of parties among the electorate. The case for the system is funda mentally the case for representative government. Every trace of opinion, be it ever so small, ought to be represented in the legis lature as near as possible to its proportional mathematical claim. That, and nothing else, is true democracy. The system first ob tained principal support through the advocacy of John Stuart Mill who, about the middle of the 19th century, recommended the Hare system, on the ground that democracy must be especially careful that minorities get their appropriate representation. The appeal of this argument has been widespread and there are few democratic countries to-day which are without some such system.
The Second Ballet system, as practised in France, provides that, if there is not an absolute majority for any one candidate in the first poll, the bottom candidates shall be struck out and the two top candidates shall proceed to a second contest. This system raises political difficulties since the period between the first and second ballot is employed in unsavoury intrigues. To obviate these difficulties the Australian States use the system known as the Alternative Vote, which requires an absolute majority and where there is only one ballot, in which the voter instead of mark ing his choice with an X, marks the candidates in the order of his preference (whence Preferential Vote system), I, 2, 3, etc.; and then the returning officer eliminates the bottom candidates in turn, distributing among the top candidates the preferences marked on the eliminated ballots.
These two systems attempt to correct the main defects of a single-member constituency : proportional representation proper seeks a more radical and creative end. It desires the creation of large constituencies with a number of seats. In the English Pro portional Representation society's suggested programme, called the "Single Transferable Vote," a constituency of at least 300,000 inhabitants is suggested and at least five seats. In the German system prevailing since 1919, the constituencies average nearly one million electors, and 15 or 16 representatives. The severalty
of representatives makes it possible for any well-knit minority with a quota of votes, i.e., the lowest number required, in the cir cumstances, to get representation. Votes cast for a member shall not be lost to the party if he personally should fail, for they are transferred or accredited to other members of the party who hold them to make up the quota. This can be done in a number of ways. The system advocated in England is that the voter shall be free to indicate his preference by numbers against the long list of candidates, the returning officer then distributing the surplus preferences of successful candidates and those with no chance among those who are designated by the preferences, until all the seats are filled by those with quotas. This system leaves the voter free of party dictation. The Belgian system has a party list which the voter may either adopt as it stands or vary the order of the candidates—but he cannot vote outside the party which he has chosen. The parties (and the members) get the mathematical share of the seats to which their aggregate vote entitles them, measured by the d'Hondt system. In Germany the variation of the party list as determined by the party machine is not allowed, and each party gets one representative for each 6o,000 votes it secures, while fractions of 6o,000 are added together for each party (within certain limits) and again for each such 6o,000 the party is permitted to nominate an extra member.
The merits, regarded from the standpoint of equity, are ob vious. The demerits of the systems as they operate in Europe are these: (1) The personal contact between member and con stituency is reduced ; in its place the party machine rules by de ciding the order of candidates on the list, and by requiring team work among candidates which results in the "star" man helping in the mediocrities. (2) A premium is placed upon the use of mechanical devices to make electors go to the poll—this is a direct result of a large constituency. (3) Small parties are kept in existence, which seriously disturbs the process of parliamentary government where a compact and single party majority in office faced by an opposition similarly constituted is thought to give the best results.