Proportional Representation (Pr) – The Basics
by Proportional representation (PR) – The basics.
Closed Party lists or Proportional Representation (PR)
PR is used in Britain to elect a Member of the European Parliament (MEP). As opposed to open party lists, closed ones operate in the manner that a vote counts toward a party rather than a particular candidate from a party. It ensures that the voters are proportionally represented in the parliament as parties tend to vote in unison.
Advantages:
· Ensures equal representation of all majorities and minorities, so that fair policy is made and no one is discriminated against in an absurd manner. More importantly, 30% of votes secure 30% of seats for the party.
· Every vote has equal value, and the reduction in choice for the voter makes it easy to choose a party that represents the voter’s ambitions and aims to work in the voter’s personal interest.
Disadvantages:
· Closed party lists are very impersonal and give the voter little choice which may frighten many voters away in a desperate attempt to create mass abstention, if they feel the system has been perverted, instead of trying to fix the problem.
· Parties choose the candidates and can discriminate within their ranks according to who sympathises more with the party structure and ideologies, which may create some extremist positions in parliament.
Be sure to check out related links such as:
First Past The Post (Fptp) – The Basics
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