Proportional Representation: a Study in Methods of Election

CHAPTER II. The Direct Results of Majority Systems

THE DIRECT RESULTS OF MAJORITY SYSTEMS

The exaggeration of majorities--The disfranchisement of minorities--The under-representation of majorities--A "game of dice"--The importance of boundaries--The "gerrymander"--The modern gerrymander--The "block" vote--The election of the London County Council--The election of aldermen of the London County Council--The election of Representative Peers of Scotland--The Australian Senate--London Borough Councils--Provincial Municipal Councils--Summary.

CHAPTER III. The Indirect Results of Majority Systems

THE INDIRECT RESULTS OF MAJORITY SYSTEMS

False impressions of public opinion--become the basis of legislative action--Loss of prestige by the House of Commons--Unstable representation--Weakened personnel--Degradation of party strife--The "final rally"--Bribery and "nursing"--The organization of victory--Party exclusiveness--Mechanical debates--Disfranchisement of minorities in bi-racial countries--Defective representation in municipal bodies--Wasteful municipal finance--No continuity in administration--The root of the evil.

CHAPTER IV. The Representation of Minorities

THE REPRESENTATION OF MINORITIES

The Limited vote--The Cumulative vote--The Single vote--The need of minority representation.

CHAPTER V

THE SECOND BALLOT AND THE TRANSFERABLE VOTE IN SINGLE-MEMBER CONSTITUENCIES

Three-cornered contests--The second ballot--Experience in Germany, Austria, Belgium, France--The bargainings at second ballots in France--The "Kuh-Handel" in Germany--The position of a deputy elected at a second ballot--The Alternative vote--The Alternative or Contingent vote in Queensland, in West Australia--Mr. Deakin's failure to carry the Alternative vote--Probable effect of the Alternative vote in England--The Alternative vote not a solution of the problem of three-cornered contests.

CHAPTER VI. Proportional Representation

PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION

The essential features of a sound electoral method--Constituencies returning several members--Proportional representation of the electors--Experience in Denmark, Switzerland, Belgium, German States, France, Holland, Finland, Sweden, Australasia, South Africa, Canada, Oregon, The United Kingdom--The success of proportional representation in practice--An election by miners.

CHAPTER VII. The Single Transferable Vote

THE SINGLE TRANSFERABLE VOTE

Its present application--An English movement--The system in brief--Large constituencies--The single vote--The vote made transferable--How votes are transferred--The quota--A simple case--The transfer of surplus votes--The elimination of the lowest unelected candidate--The result--Different methods of transferring surplus votes: The Hare method--The Hare-Clark method--The Gregory method--The Gove or Dobbs method--The Model election of 1908--The counting of votes: general arrangements--The first count--The quota--The transfer of surplus votes--The elimination of unsuccessful candidates--The fairness of the result--Improved arrangements in the Transvaal elections--Criticisms of the single transferable vote--Effect of late preferences--Elimination of candidates at the bottom of the poll--Quota representation the basis of the system.

CHAPTER VIII. List Systems of Proportional Representation.

LIST SYSTEMS OF PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION.

The Belgian electoral system--The Franchise--Compulsory voting--Partial renewal of Chamber--The presentation of lists--The act of voting--The allotment of seats to parties--The selection of the successful candidates--A Belgian election, Ghent, 1908: the poll--The counting of the votes--The final process--Public opinion favourable to the system--The relation of the Belgian to other list systems--The different methods of apportioning seats to lists--Criticism of the d'Hondt rule--The formation of Cartels--The different methods of selecting successful candidates--Panachage--The single vote and case de tête--The limited and cumulative vote--Special characteristics of Swedish and Finnish systems.

CHAPTER IX. A Comparison of List Systems With the Single Transferable Vote

A COMPARISON OF LIST SYSTEMS WITH THE SINGLE TRANSFERABLE VOTE

The influence of previous conditions--Party the basis of representation in a list system--The freedom of the elector within the party--Comparative accuracy--Panachage--Applicability to non-political elections--Bye-elections--Relative simplicity of scrutiny.

CHAPTER X. Proportional Representation and Party Government

PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION AND PARTY GOVERNMENT

Proportional representation and the two-party system--Burke's view of party and party discipline--Narrow basis fatal to a large party--Proportional representation and party discipline--"Free questions" in Japan--The formation of groups--The formation of an executive--A check on partisan legislation--Unlike the referendum, proportional representation will strengthen the House of Commons--Proportional representation facilitates legislation desired by the nation--Proportional representation in Standing Committees--Taking off the Whips--New political conditions.

CHAPTER XI. Objections to Proportional Representation

OBJECTIONS TO PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION

The question of practicability--The elector's task--The returning officer's task--Time required for counting the votes--Fads and sectional interests--The representation of localities--The member and his constituents--Objections of party agents--Alleged difficulties in the organization of elections--Alleged increase of cost--The accuracy of representation--Summary.

CHAPTER XII. The Key to Electoral and Constitutional Reform

THE KEY TO ELECTORAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM

Electoral problems awaiting solution--Simplification of the franchise--Redistribution--Should be automatic--Secures neither one vote one value nor true representation--The problem simplified by proportional representation--The case of Ireland--Three-cornered contests--Partial adoption of proportional representation not desirable--Proportional representation and democratic principles --Constitutional reform--Federal Home Rule--Imperial Federation --Conclusion.

APPENDICES

Appendix I

THE JAPANESE ELECTORAL SYSTEM--THE SINGLE NON-TRANSFERABLE VOTE

Failure of single-member system--Multi-member constituencies: Single Vote adopted 1900--Equitable results--The new system and party organization--The position of independents--Public opinion and the new system.

Appendix Ii

THE SECOND BALLOT: A NOTE ON THE GERMAN GENERAL ELECTIONS OF 1903 AND 1907

The effect of unequal constituencies on representation--The effect of second ballots--Second ballots and the swing of the pendulum--The second ballot and the representation of minorities--Summary.

Appendix Iii

THE SWEDISH SYSTEM OF PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION

The former constitution of the two Chambers--The struggle for electoral reform--The Swedish law of 1909--The Swedish system of proportional representation--The allotment of seats to parties--The selection of the successful candidates--Free voters and double candidatures--An election at Carlskrona--The poll--The allotment of seats to parties--The selection of the successful candidates--The election of suppliants--Comparison with Belgian system--The system and party organization--The great improvement effected by the Swedish system.

Appendix Iv

THE FINLAND SYSTEM OF PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION

The influence of the Belgian system--Schedules and "compacts" in place of lists--An election in Nyland--Returning officer's task--The allotment of seats--Successful candidates in the Nyland election--Equitable results--Elector's freedom of choice.

Appendix V

STATISTICS OF THE GENERAL ELECTIONS, 1885-1910

Explanatory notes--The representation of minorities.

APPENDIX VI

PREFERENTIAL VOTING: THE TRANSFER OF SUPERFLUOUS VOTES

I. The element of chance involved: Its magnitude. II. Method of eliminating the chance element--Example.

Appendix Vii

THE SINGLE TRANSFERABLE VOTE: SCHEDULE TO MUNICIPAL REPRESENTATION BILL, 1910

APPENDIX VIII

THE SINGLE TRANSFERABLE VOTE: SCHEDULE TO TASMANIAN ELECTORAL ACT, 1907

APPENDIX IX

THE SINGLE TRANSFERABLE VOTE: REGULATIONS FOR THE ELECTION OF SENATORS UNDER THE SOUTH AFRICA ACT, 1909

APPENDIX X LIST SYSTEM: BILL PRESENTED TO THE FRENCH CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES, 1907

APPENDIX XI

LIST SYSTEM: LAW ADOPTED BY THE CANTON OF BÂLE TOWN, 1905

INDEX

"The object of our deliberation is to promote the good purposes for which elections have been instituted, and to prevent their inconveniences."

--BURKE

CHAPTER I. The House of Commons As an Expression of the National Will

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS AS AN EXPRESSION OF THE NATIONAL WILL

"The virtue, the spirit, the essence of the House of Commons, consists in its being the express image of the nation."--BURKE.

"It is necessary," said Burke, "to resort to the theory of government whenever you propose any alteration in the frame of it, whether that alteration means the revival of some former antiquated and forsaken constitution or state, or the introduction of some new improvement in the commonwealth." The following chapters are a plea for an improvement in our electoral methods, and although the suggested improvement and the arguments with which it is supported are not new, yet it is desirable, in the spirit of Burke's declaration, to preface the plea with some reference to the main feature of our constitution.

The spread of representative government.

The outstanding characteristic of the British Constitution, its fundamental principle, is now, if not fully so in Burke's time, the government of the nation by its chosen representatives. Indeed, so much is this the case that, in spite of the continued presence of elements which are far from representative in character, originating in that distant past when commoners had little, if any, political influence, the British Constitution and Representative Government are almost synonymous terms, and the "mother of parliaments" has given birth to so long a succession of constitutions of which the cardinal principle is representative government--the association of the governed with the government--that we cannot now think of our House of Commons save as the most complete expression of this principle. Nor, despite the criticisms, many of them fully deserved, which have been directed against the working of parliamentary institutions, has the House of Commons ceased to be taken in other lands as a model to be reproduced in general outline. New parliaments continue to arise and in the most unexpected quarters. China is insistently demanding the immediate realisation of full representative government. Japan has not only assimilated western learning, but has adopted western representative institutions, and in copying our electoral machinery has added improvements of her own. Russia has established a parliament which, although not at present elected upon a democratic basis, must inevitably act as a powerful check upon autocracy, and in the process will assuredly seek that increased authority which comes from a more complete identification with the people. The Reichstag has demanded the cessation of the personal rule of the German Emperor, and will not be content until, in the nation's name, it exercises a more complete control over the nation's affairs. Parliamentary government was recently established at Constantinople amid the plaudits of the whole civilized world, and although the new régime has not fulfilled all the hopes formed of it, yet upon its continuance depends the maintenance of the improvements already effected in Turkey. Lord Morley signalized his tenure of office as Secretary of State for India by reforms that make a great advance in the establishment of representative institutions. Some of these experiments may be regarded as premature, but in the case of civilized nations there would appear to be no going back; for them there is no alternative to democracy, and if representative institutions have not yielded so far all the results that were expected of them, progress must be sought in an improvement of these institutions rather than in a return to earlier conditions. The only criticism, therefore, of the House of Commons that is of practical value must deal with those defects which experience has disclosed, and with those improvements in its organization and composition which are essential if in the future it is to discharge efficiently and adequately its primary function of giving effect to the national will.

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