Answer to Question #233359 in Political Science for Katie

Question

Suppose that an election the candidate from party a won 160% of the vote, the candidate from party B won 20% of the vote, and the candidate from party C won 20% of the vote. If the election happens in the single-member district how many legislative seats did party C win

Answer 1

The basic principles underlying proportional representation elections are that all voters deserve representation and that all political groups in society deserve to be represented in our legislatures in proportion to their strength in the electorate. All PR systems divide up the seats in these multi-member districts according to the proportion of votes received by the various parties or groups running candidates. Legislators are elected in large, multi-member districts. Each party puts up a list or slate of candidates equal to the number of seats in the district. Independent candidates may also run, and they are listed separately on the ballot as if they were their own party. On the ballot, voters indicate their preference for a particular party and the parties then receive seats in proportion to their share of the vote.

Election happening in a single-member district if the candidate on Party C won 20% of the vote, then Party C will win 1 seat out of every 5 seats in the district.