What is Proportional Representation?
Proportional Representation (PR) is a family of voting systems that ensure the percentage of seats a party has in the legislature approximately matches the percentage of people who voted for that party. In other words, 30% of the vote gets you 30% of the seats.
The core mechanism of PR is the use of multi-member ridings, where several representatives are elected for a given geographic region. There are several systems of PR including Mixed-Member Proportional (MMP), the Single Transferable Vote (STV) and Rural-Urban Proportional (RUPR).
Most democracies around the world use proportional voting systems which means they elect coalition governments consisting of multiple parties. All models of proportional representation proposed for Canada feature local representation, easy-to-use ballots, increased diversity in the legislature, and voting power for almost everyone.
Mixed Member Proportional (MMP)
MMP combines our existing single-member system with regional multi-member ridings to ensure proportional representation. The system works by giving you two votes: one to elect a local MP and a “party vote” that helps elect regional MPs.
Local MPs are elected in single-member ridings using first past the post. Regional MPs are selected using open or closed party lists and then allocated proportionally based on the total party votes cast in the election. A party must meet a minimum threshold of about 5% to be eligible to receive regional seats.
MMP is used by countries such as Germany and New Zealand to elect their legislatures.
Single Transferable Vote (STV)
Instead of just electing one local representative, voters elect a small team of MPs (5-7) using a ranked ballot in a multi-member riding. Voters simply rank the candidates in the order of their preference, with several rounds of vote counts determining the distribution of the seats. This results in MPs who represent the political diversity of each riding.
STV is used nationally in Ireland, in four Australian territories, in Scotland for local elections, and was provincially used in Winnipeg, Calgary and Edmonton for 30 years. It is the original proportional representation system.