Proportional representation

Proportional representation, system of electing members to a legislature in which political parties or groups contesting the election are awarded a number of seats in the legislature more or less proportional to the number of votes they get. For instance, if 3 parties are running for seats in a 300-member legislature, and one party gets half the vote while the others roughly split the remaining half equally, the largest party would be allotted about 150 seats, the 2 others about 75 each. There are various ways of organizing such elections and of calculating the results. The system is generally used in places where there are more than 2 significant-sized parties. Supporters of proportional representation argue that it is the most democratic system, since it most accurately reflects the political desires of the population. Opponents argue that it can give unreasonable power to small groups, which can sometimes gain decisive leverage in a divided multiparty assembly.