Proportional Representation

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PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION

What is proportional representation? 

Proportional representation is a broad term for a group of s that distribute a close match between the percentage of votes that groups of candidates get in elections and the percentage of seats they receive. Proportional Representation includes systems like STV, AMS and AV+. It is often distinguished from , where disproportional seat distribution results from the division of voters into multiple electoral districts, for instance in first past the post districts. Though we do not use PR in general elections, countries like Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland use PR on a regular basis.

Explain the workings of the AMS and the STV in the UK

 have been in use, since  in 1999, for the ,  and .

Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) are elected in one of two ways: (1) as   MSPs or; (2) as   MSPs.73 are elected as constituency MSPs and 56 are elected as additional members, seven from each of eight regional groups of constituencies. This  produces a form of  for each region.All MSP positions become simultaneously vacant for elections held on a four year cycle. If a vacancy arises at another time, due to death or resignation, then it may be filled in one of two ways, depending of whether the vacancy is for a first-past-the-post constituency MSP or for an additional-member MSP.A constituency vacancy may be filled by a . An additional-member vacancy may be filled by the next available candidate on the relevant party list.Also, the London Assembly is elected by the . There are fourteen directly elected constituencies, nine of which were won by the Conservatives and five by the Labour Party. An extra eleven members were allocated by a London wide top-up vote, with the condition that parties must win at least 5% of the vote to be eligible for list seats. This latter rule prevented both the  and the  from winning a seat each.

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STV is not used for elections to the  at  but is used for all  and local government elections in , and will shortly be used for all local elections in . In Northern Ireland Assembly elections involve six seat constituencies, while local elections currently use constituencies of between five and seven seats. For European elections Northern Ireland serves as a single three seat constituency.

Local elections in Scotland will use constituencies of three and four seats. All official STV elections in the UK use the  of counting votes.STV is also used by many private organizations. For example, ...

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