Page 418 - A READY RECKONER

Brief Profiles of Countries, EMB’s and Partner Organisations of A-WEB

simplest form of plurality/majority electoral system, into two or more non-overlapping areas, in each of
using single-member districts and candidate- which a different electoral system is used.
centred voting. The winning candidate is the one
who gains more votes than any other candidate, 42. Imperiali Quota – A variant of quota used in
even if this is not an absolute majority of valid votes. proportional representation systems which use the
Largest Remainder Method, defined as the total
35. Free list – A form of List PR in which voters may valid vote divided by the number of seats to be filled
vote for a party or grouping and in addition for in the electoral district plus two. See also Droop
one or more candidates, whether or not those Quota and Hare Quota.
candidates are nominated by that party or
grouping. Also known as panachage. See also 43. Index of disproportionality – A figure which is
Closed list and Open list. Gerrymandering – The designed to measure the degree of deviation from
deliberate manipulation of electoral district proportionality in the allocation of seats to parties
boundaries so as to\ advantage or disadvantage a or groupings which participated in an election. It
particular political interest. is most commonly defined as the square root of
the sum of the squares of the differences for each
36. Hagenbach-Bischoff Quota – Another term for the party or grouping between the percentage of votes
Droop Quota. received and the percentage of seats gained.

37. Hare Quota – A variant of quota used in 44. Invalid votes – Votes which cannot be counted
proportional representation systems which use the in favour of any participant in an election due to
Largest Remainder Method, defined as the total accidental or deliberate errors of marking by the voter.
valid vote divided by the number of seats to be filled
in the electoral district. See Quota (a). Also known 45. Largest Remainder Method – A principle for
as Hare-Niemeyer. See also Droop Quota and converting votes into seats in List PR systems.
Imperiali Quota. After parties and groupings have been allocated
seats in an electoral district because they have
38. Heterogeneous district – An electoral district received full quotas (a) of votes, some seats will
in which, either by design or as a result of the be unfilled, and some votes remain—for each
operation of other criteria for boundary delimitation, party, less than a full quota (a). The remaining
the electorate manifests social, ethnic, religious or seats are then awarded to parties and groupings
linguistic diversity. in order of the number of left-over votes
they possess. The Largest Remainder Method
39. Highest Average Method – A principle for tends to be more favourable to smaller parties
converting votes into seats in List PR systems. One than the alternative approach, the Highest
seat is allocated in a district at each of a series of Average Method.
counts to the party or grouping with the highest
vote total. When a seat is allocated, the original vote 46. Lema – A term used in Latin America for an
of the party that wins it is reduced by division. The umbrella list including two or more sublists
most common series of divisors used are D’Hondt which receive votes separately but whose votes
and Sainte-Laguë. The Highest Average Method are counted together for the purposes of seat
tends to be more favourable to larger parties than its allocation in some List PR systems. See also
alternative, the Largest Remainder Method. Apparentement and Stembusaccoord.

40. Homogeneous district – An electoral district 47. Limited Vote (LV) – An electoral system used in
in which, either by design or as a result of the multi-member districts in which electors have
operation of other criteria for boundary delimitation, more than one vote, but fewer votes than there are
the electorate manifests substantial social, ethnic, candidates to be elected. The candidates with the
religious or linguistic uniformity. highest vote totals win the seats, in the same way
as in a Block Vote system and in SNTV.
41. Hybrid System – The result of dividing a country

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