Proportional Representation: A Study in Methods of Election Part 16

[Footnote 16: It was at first intended to adopt the arrangement of staff and method of recording preferences used at the election of 1897. These arrangements were after a test abandoned in favour of the much more convenient method used at the Proportional Representation Society's model election held December 1908.--_Report on the Tasmanian General Election_, 1909, par. 8.]

[Footnote 17: For full details of these elections, see Report presented to both Houses of the Transvaal Parliament.--T.G. 5--'10.]

[Footnote 18: _Report of Royal Commission on Electoral Systems_, par.

76.]

[Footnote 19: A simple example will explain. Let it be a.s.sumed that P and Q are members of party A, and poll 18,000 votes, that R and S and T are members of party B, polling in all 19,000 votes, and that the following table records the votes given and the details of the transfers made in arriving at the final result:--

Quota = (37,000/4) + 1 = 9251

Transfer Transfer 1st of R's of T's Candidates. Count. Surplus. Result. Votes. Result.

P 9,050 9,050 9,050 (Elected).

Party A. Q 8,950 8,950 8,950 (Elected).

R 10,000 -749 9,251 9,251 (Elected).

Party B. S 6,000 +500 6,500 +2,400 8,900 T 3,000 +249 3,249 -3,249

Exhausted +849 849 ------ ------ ------ 37,000 37,000 37,000

The members of the two parties recorded their votes as follows:--

Party A. Party B.

P. 9,050 R. 10,000 Q. 8,950 S. 6,000 T. 3,000

The total number of votes polled is 37,000, and the quota, therefore, is 9251. Candidate R, having received more than a quota would be declared elected, and his surplus of 749 votes carried forward. It may be a.s.sumed that candidates S and T, who are of the same party, received 500 and 249 as their shares of this surplus. The result of this transfer is shown in the table. T, the lowest candidate on the poll, would then be eliminated. Now, if the contingent of voters Supporting T are not fully loyal to their party, and as many as 849 have recorded no preference save for T, then 2400 would be available for transfer to S, whose total would be only 8900. S would be eliminated, and the three candidates elected would be P and Q of party A, and R of party B, although R and S between them represented 18,151 voters. This case can be met by providing that whenever votes are exhausted the quota should be counted afresh. The votes in play, ignoring those exhausted, would be in all 36,151, the new quota would be 9038, while an additional number of votes, viz. 213, would be available for transfer from R to S, with the result that the position of these candidates would be as follows:--

R 9,038 S 9,113 P 9,050 Q 8,950

Party B would obtain two seats, the party A only one seat.]

[Footnote 20: Address delivered on 6 September 1909.]

[Footnote 22: See Appendix VII.]

CHAPTER VIII

LIST SYSTEMS OF PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION

"'One man, one vote; one party, one candidate'--thus runs the cry."--COUNT GOBLET D'ALVIELLA

List systems of proportional representation are based upon the block vote or _scrutin de liste_--the method of election generally used on the Continent of Europe and in the United States of America when several members are to be elected for the same const.i.tuency. With the _scrutin de liste_, lists of candidates are nominated by the various political organizations or groups of electors; each elector has as many votes as there are members to be elected, but he may not give more than one vote to any one candidate. The party which can obtain the support of a majority of the electors can carry its list to the exclusion of all others; minorities are crushed even more completely than with the system of single-member const.i.tuencies. But as const.i.tuencies returning several members are an essential requirement of any scheme of proportional representation, the _scrutin de liste_ facilitates the introduction of a proportional system, for the only great change involved is the allotment of seats to the respective lists in proportion to the totals of votes obtained by each. But this change brings in its train a change in the nature of the vote. It remains no longer a vote only for candidates as individuals; it obtains a twofold significance, and becomes what is termed the double simultaneous vote (_le double vote simultanee_). In the first place it is a vote for the party list as such, and is used for determining the proportion of seats to be allotted to the lists; and, in the second place, it is a vote for a particular candidate or order of candidates for the purpose of ascertaining which of the candidates included in a list shall be declared successful. This double function of the vote is characteristic of all list systems of proportional representation. Other changes of a subsidiary character, which experience has shown to be advisable, have been adopted in different countries so that the various systems differ in detail in the methods both by which seats are apportioned among the competing lists and by which the successful candidates are chosen.

_The Belgian electoral system_.]

List systems are in operation for parliamentary purposes in Switzerland, Belgium, Wurtemberg, Sweden, and Finland. The simplest of these is that adopted by Belgium, and the description of a Belgian election may serve as an introduction to the study of other systems. Through the courtesy of M. Steyeart, the President of the Tribunal of First Instance and Chief Electoral Officer for the const.i.tuency of Ghent-Eecloo, the author was enabled to watch the elections in May 1908 in that const.i.tuency.

Proportional representation is, however, only one of the points in which the Belgian and English electoral systems differ, and in order to obtain a true estimate of the working of the Belgian law it is necessary to distinguish between results which are due to the franchise qualifications and those which are due to the system of proportional representation. The effects arising from these two separate features of the electoral system have sometimes been confused, and it is therefore desirable to give a brief outline of the conditions which govern a Belgian election.

In the first place, Belgium has manhood suffrage modified by a system of graduated voting. Secondly, each elector is compelled to vote or, at least, to present himself at the polling place. Thirdly, both the Chambers are elective, and, although provision exists for the dissolution and the election of Parliament as a whole, only one-half of each Chamber is, in the ordinary course, elected at a time, each Senator being elected for a fixed period of eight years, and each member of the House of Representatives for a period of four years.

_The franchise._

The unique franchise system embodied in the Belgian const.i.tution in 1893 was adopted only after months had been spent in discussing the schemes of rival parties. All attempts at compromise failed until attention was seriously directed to the suggestions of M. Albert Nyssens, Professor of the University of Louvain, contained in his pamphlet _Le Suffrage Universel Tempere_. His proposals had the merit of recognizing the validity of the arguments advanced by all the political parties.

Conservatives desired the introduction of a system based on occupation coupled with the payment of taxes; many Liberals were anxious to secure special recognition for electors of admitted capacity--in short, an educational qualification; the Radicals inside and Socialists outside Parliament demonstrated continually in favour of universal, direct and equal suffrage. The claim for universal suffrage was recognized by granting to every male Belgian who had attained the age of twenty-five years the right to vote, but a counterpoise to so democratic a suffrage was sought in the granting of additional votes to electors possessing specified qualifications. A supplementary vote was awarded to every married man who had attained the age of thirty-five years and paid five francs in taxes on his dwelling. An additional vote was given to every owner of land or house property of the value of two thousand francs, or to the possessor of an income of a hundred francs derived from Belgian public funds. Thus were met the demands of the Catholics for the representation of property, whilst the Liberal advocacy of the claims of the educated voter were met in a similar way. Two additional votes were awarded to those who had obtained a diploma of higher education; to those who filled, or had filled, a public position; or to those engaged in a profession which implied the possession of a good education. The highest number of votes awarded to any elector, for parliamentary purposes, whatever qualifications he might possess, was three.

_Compulsory voting_.

The exercise of the franchise is regarded in Belgium as a duty which each citizen owes to the State, and the obligatory vote is therefore universally accepted without demur. The elector must attend at the polling place, take his ballot paper and deposit it in the ballot box.

If he places the ballot paper in the urn without voting there are no means of ascertaining the fact; but unless he forwards to the Electoral Officer an explanation, in due form, of his absence from the polling booth he is liable to prosecution. The percentage of abstentions is thus very low, but, in addition to this result, the obligatory vote has had a considerable indirect effect upon the character of electoral contests.

Voting has become an official matter. Formerly, as here, it rested with the political organizations to persuade and exhort electors to vote; now, each elector receives from the Returning Officer an official command to attend at the polling place.

_Partial renewal of chamber_.

The third difference--the partial renewal of the Chambers--dates from the const.i.tution of 1831, and the reason for its adoption was the same as that which underlies the partial renewal of English munic.i.p.al councils--the desire to ensure continuity in the composition and proceedings of Parliament. There was some justification for this practice under the old voting methods, for then the result of elections largely depended, as is the case in England to-day, upon the chance distribution of party strength. The composition of the Chamber of Representatives was liable to violent oscillations and changes, and the partial renewal of the Chambers moderated the violence of these changes.

But whilst the partial renewal may be defended on these grounds, it has two distinct disadvantages. When only one-half of the Chamber is to be elected (as in the renewal of only one-third of our munic.i.p.al Councils) a considerable diminution takes place in the amount of public interest evoked by an election. There is, moreover, a further and even more serious drawback that, when the election turns upon a question of vital importance, such for instance as the annexation of the Congo, the verdict of _only one-half_ the people is obtained. In 1908 elections took place in four provinces only--East Flanders, Hainaut, Liege, and Limbourg--and so, whilst the citizens of Ghent and Liege were expressing their opinion upon the policy of the Government, the citizens of Brussels were reduced to the position of spectators of a fight in which doubtless many would have liked to have taken a part. The introduction of proportional representation has rendered this particular feature of the Belgian electoral system quite unnecessary. Electors are not so fickle as an irrational method of voting made them appear to be.

_The presentation of lists_.

For the purpose of parliamentary elections each of the nine provinces of Belgium is divided into large const.i.tuencies returning several members; Brussels returns twenty-one members, Ghent eleven, but several of the smaller const.i.tuencies return as few as three representatives. Fifteen days before the date of the election lists of candidates which, before presentation, must have received the support of at least one hundred electors, are sent to the returning officer. After verification, each list is given an official number and the lists are then published, no official t.i.tle other than the number being given to the lists. In the copy of the ballot paper used at Ghent, shown on the opposite page, list No. 1 was presented by the Catholics; No. 2 by the Liberals; No. 3 by those Socialists who were dissatisfied with their party's list; No. 4 by the small tradesmen; No. 5 by the official Socialists; whilst No. 6 contains the name of a candidate standing as an independent. It will be observed that each of the first five lists is divided into two parts separated by the word "Suppleants." The candidates so described are not taken into account in the actual election of representatives; they are, however, voted for in the same way and at the same time as the other candidates, and are called upon (in the order determined by the result of the election) to fill any vacancy occasioned by the retirement or death of a duly-elected representative belonging to the same list. This arrangement obviates the necessity for bye-elections, and the relative strength of parties remains the same from the time of one election to the next. The order in which the names of the candidates appear upon the lists is arranged by the organizations responsible for their presentation. It should, however, be stated that this provision, about which public opinion is much divided, is not an essential feature of a proportional system. It was not a part of the original proposals of M.

Beernaert, and it certainly strengthens the hands of political organizations, although, as will be shown subsequently, proportional representation considerably modifies, if it does not altogether prevent, abuse of the power conceded to political bodies.

[Ill.u.s.tration: List Ballot paper]

_The act of voting._

The work of the elector is simplicity itself. He can select one list or one candidate in a list but not more for each of the votes to which he may be ent.i.tled. His choice can be recorded in four different ways. In each case the act of voting consists in pencilling one or other of the white spots contained in the black squares at the head of the lists or against the names of individual candidates. In the first place, the elector may vote by blackening the spot at the head of the list. The significance of such a vote is that the elector votes for the list, and, at the same time, approves of the order in which the candidates have been arranged by the party organization. Naturally all the party organizations and journals advise their supporters to vote in this way.

Secondly, the elector may vote by blackening the white spot against the name of one of the "effective" candidates on one of the lists. Such a vote implies that the elector votes for the list on which the candidate's name appears, but that, instead of approving of the order in which the candidates have been arranged, he prefers the particular candidate he has marked. The third and fourth methods are but variations of the second. The elector can indicate a preference for one of the supplementary candidates, or he can indicate preferences for an effective and also for a supplementary candidate. In brief, the elector votes for one of the lists, and either approves of the list as arranged or indicates the change he desires.

_The allotment of seats to parties._

The number of representatives awarded to each party is determined by the method formulated by M. Victor d'Hondt, a professor of the University of Ghent. Its working may best be shown by an ill.u.s.tration. Let it be a.s.sumed that three lists have been presented; that they have obtained 8000, 7500, and 4500 votes respectively, and that there are five vacancies to be filled. The total number of votes for each list is divided successively by the numbers 1, 2, 3, and so on, and the resulting numbers are arranged thus:--

List No. 1. List No. 2. List No. 3.

8,000 7,500 4,500 4,000 3,750 2,250 2,666 2,500 1,500

The five highest numbers (five being the number of vacancies to be filled) are then arranged in order of magnitude as follows:--

8,000 7,500 4,500 4,000 3,750

The lowest of these numbers, 3750, is called the "common divisor"[1] or the "electoral quotient," and forms the basis for the allotment of seats. The number of votes obtained by each of the lists is divided by the "common divisor" thus:--

8,000 divided by 3,750 = 2 with a remainder of 500. 7,500 " 3,750 = 2 4,500 " 3,750 = 1 with a remainder of 750.