Proportional Representation Pros And Cons

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Proportionally Equal According to Douglas J. Amy, “Proportional representation is the best political reform we’ve never heard of… (Ellis and Nelson 191)” Proportional representation is defined as being an electoral system that decides the make-up of a parliament, by the allocation of seats based off the number of votes received by each political party. Rather than using the stereotypical winner-take all approach such as other systems commonly used, it ensures that each vote carries an equal amount of weight. The idea of multi-member constituents is introduced, meaning single areas have the potential to elect more than one representative. Proportional representation is ultimately presented as being the “ideal” system for all legislative houses, because it reduces the problems pertaining towards gerrymandering, malapportionment’s, and pork barrel spending and helps to abide the theory of liberal democracy (Lillingston 2016). Proportional representation ultimately gives minority and independent parties an increased ability to win an election, because parties are forced to appeal to their core supporters. Individuals deserve the right to be …show more content…

According to the United States Constitution, Amendment XIV, section 2 “Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed.” The Constitution intended for the practice of proportional representation in the United States House of Representatives, which is why it has remained a hot topic since Federal Constitutional Convention in 1787. The rationality of proportional representation is to reduce the disparity between an individual party’s shares of the national vote compared to its share of parliamentary seats, similarly if one of the parties wins

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