The Best Loser System and Proportional Representation By Dave Kissoondoyal

70

60

60
54

50
41
38

40

30

30
21
18

20

23

22

20

20

18 18

15
10

10

6
2

0
Labour Party
MMM
1995

MSM MMR

5
2

MMM MSM

Labour Party
PMXD

Labour Party
PMXD

2000
Constituency

MMM MSM

2005
PR 20 Seats

Labour Party
MSM - PMSD

MMM-UNMMSD

2010

PR 30 Seats

The Best Loser System (BLS) does not have its raison-dtre in a new electoral system as
formulated by the Sachs Commission.
The implementation of the Sachs recommendations requires the insertion, in our electoral
system, of a dose of proportional representation based on a party-list vote. This means that, in
addition to voting for the three candidates of his choice to represent him in Parliament, the
elector shall also vote for a party of his choice. And in voting for that party, he will be voting for
members of that party whose names appear on the party-list.
At paragraph 84, in its report, the Sachs Commission refers to this system as Model C ,
The third proposal, which we refer to as PR Model C, would allow for a greater degree of fairness
whilst still heavily favoring stability. This model would lean in favor of stability by ensuring that
the number of PR seats was limited to a figure not exceeding 30. Whether or not the BLS is
retained, the fact that there will be sixty-two members elected on a constituency basis and only a
maximum of thirty elected according to the compensatory PR system, will load the House heavily
on the side of the constituency form of representation. The exaggerated strength of the leading
party produced by the FPTP will further emphasise the relative strength in the House of such
party.
Thus, any party or alliance which gets close to 50% or more of the votes will be assured of such a
substantial number of constituency seats that its right to form a government could not be
threatened by the introduction of thirty PR seats. In the elections of 2000, the MSM/MMM
alliance got 58 out of 70 seats.

If, the PR Model C had been applied and the additional number of PR seats was 20, the alliance
would have ended up with a majority that could still have been more than 70%. If 30 PR seats had
been added, it would have ended up with a majority of nearly 60%. Thus, while strongly geared
towards protecting the right to form a government of the leader of a party that on its own gets
close to 50% of the national vote, or a pre-election alliance that leads with even a low percentage,
it would introduce a relatively significant correction to the present gross under-representation of
the opposition party or parties. It should be noted, however, that even if PR Model C would not
put at risk a party or alliance that received nearly half the votes cast, it could make a difference if
no single party or alliance received close to 50% or more of the votes. In such narrow
circumstances, it could, if three parties each got more than 10% of the vote, place the third party
in a position to form a postelectoral alliance with a second party so as to form a majority in the
House and thereby choose the Prime Minister. At this stage, one can only speculate on how any
system of PR would affect electoral and party behaviour. The practical effect of PR Model C might
well be to encourage the creation of postelection coalitions rather than pre-election alliances. At
the moment, the electoral system gives enormous, and many say, disproportionate, incentives to
form pre-election alliances. Some voters might see this as having the advantage of establishing a
balanced ticket known to the electorate in advance. The parties and the electorate generally,
however, might prefer the extra degree of fluidity and voter-choice which PR Model C would
introduce.
After discussions among all the political parties in Mauritius, consensus has been reached as
follows:
1.
Parties which reach the threshold of 7.5 % are going to be considered for the Proportional
Representation
2.
The number of PR seats as per the party-list would be 20.
We are now going to apply the above in simulation to the past elections as from 1995 to 2010.
Let us take the example of the elections of 20th December 1995 when the MMM Party had allied
with the Labour Party and we got the second 60-0 of this country.

The Labour Party MMM alliance obtained 1,084,236 votes, representing 65.17 percent
and secured 60 seats

The MSM-MMR alliance obtained 330,219 votes, representing 19.85 % and secured NO seat
at the assembly

The Gaetan Duval Party obtained 105,282 votes, representing 6.33 % and managed to get
one seat as Best Loser

The MMP/Hizbullah Party Alliance obtained only 3005 votes, representing 1.8 % and
managed to get one seat as Best Loser

Two other best loser seats, out of four, were secured by the Rodrigues Movement.
None of the BLS seats will be considered since the effects of the BLS will be already included in
the PR.

1995 ELECTIONS
Labour
Labour
PartyPartyMMM
MMM
Votes
Seats
1084236
60
65.17
76.65

Vote %
Relative %
Additional
Seat
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

PR Value
17,774.36
17,774.36
17,774.36
17,774.36
17,774.36
17,774.36
17,774.36
17,774.36
17,774.36
17,774.36
17,774.36
17,774.36
17,774.36
17,774.36
17,774.36
17,774.36
17,774.36
17,774.36
17,774.36
17,487.68
17,210.10
17,210.10
16,941.19
16,680.55
16,427.82
16,427.82
16,182.63
15,944.65
15,713.57
15,713.57

60
60
60
60
60
60
60
60
60
60
60
60
60
60
60
60
60
60
61
62
62
63
64
65
65
66
67
68
68
69

MSMMMR
Votes
330219
19.85
23.35
PR Value
330,219.00
165,109.50
110,073.00
82,554.75
66,043.80
55,036.50
47,174.14
41,277.38
36,691.00
33,021.90
30,019.91
27,518.25
25,401.46
23,587.07
22,014.60
20,638.69
19,424.65
18,345.50
17,379.95
17,379.95
17,379.95
16,510.95
16,510.95
16,510.95
16,510.95
15,724.71
15,724.71
15,724.71
15,724.71
15,009.95

MSMMMR
Seats
0

Labour
PartyMMM
Seats %
100.00

MSMMMR
Seats %
0.00

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
18
18
19
19
19
19
20
20
20
20
21
21

98.36
96.77
95.24
93.75
92.31
90.91
89.55
88.24
86.96
85.71
84.51
83.33
82.19
81.08
80.00
78.95
77.92
76.92
77.22
77.50
76.54
76.83
77.11
77.38
76.47
76.74
77.01
77.27
76.40
76.67

1.64
3.23
4.76
6.25
7.69
9.09
10.45
11.76
13.04
14.29
15.49
16.67
17.81
18.92
20.00
21.05
22.08
23.08
22.78
22.50
23.46
23.17
22.89
22.62
23.53
23.26
22.99
22.73
23.60
23.33

We would apply the formula from the recommendations of the Sachs Commission.

We are discarding from consideration all parties who have polled less than 7.5% of the total
votes cast

We divide the total number of votes polled by each party having polled 7.5% or more of the
votes [a] by the aggregate of one (1) and the number of candidates of that party who have been
returned at the level of the 21 constituencies (1+ b); The formula to be applied will therefore be [
a / (1+b)]. In other words, where a party has, say, 60 returned candidates at constituency level,
the number of votes polled by that party in respect of its party list is divided by 61. The result is
the PR figure.

The PR Figure of each party indicates whether that party is underrepresented. Where a
party has a high PR figure, this means that it is underrepresented and, as a result, the first
additional seat shall be allocated to the party with the highest PR figure;

Since the allocation of that first additional seat may have upset the representation of
parties, another PR figure needs to be recalculated by dividing the total number of votes polled
by that party (a) by the aggregate of one (1) and the number of seats held by that party as a result
of the previous exercise.

This process shall carry on until all 20 additional seats have been allocated. The following
tables indicate how the compensatory system would have worked
In the above table, the Party-list has been extended to 30 to allow a comparison in each election.
Therefore after the exercise of the additional seat allocation through PR, the setup post 1995
General Elections would have been as follows:

Labour Party MMM = 62 Seats

MSM MMR = 18 Seats
Rodrigues People's Organisation = 2 seats
Total = 82 seats

Party
Labour Party-MMM
MSM-MMR
Gatan Duval Party
MMP-HP
Mauritian Militant Socialist
Movement
Rodrigues People's

Votes

1,084,236
330,219
105,282
28,749

65.17
19.85
6.33
1.73

25,472
16,631

1.53
1.00

Seats
Constituency PR
60
2
0 18
0
0
0
2

Total
62
18
0
0
0
2

Organisation
Rodrigues Movement
Muslim People's Front
Liberal Democrats' Movement
Natural Law Party
Liberal Action Party
Mauritian People's Party
Mauritian Movement for
Peace
Hizbullah
Movement for Justice
Mauritian Democratic
Movement
Socialist Movement of the
South
Hindu Etka Andolan Dul
Republican Movement
Mauritian Democracy
Mauritian Workers'
Movement
Mauritius United Party
Mauritius Party Rights
Independents
Invalid/blank votes
Total valid votes
Total Voters

9,529
8,233
6,848
4,074
3,332
2,505

0.57
0.49
0.41
0.24
0.20
0.15

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0

1,630
1,375
1,149

0.10
0.08
0.07

0
0
0

0
0
0

859

0.05

342
307
281
259

0.02
0.02
0.02
0.02

0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0

212
185
100
32,007
8,805
1,663,816
567,810

0.01
0.01
0.01
1.92

0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0

For a PR of 20 seats, 1995 elections

Labour Party MMM = 2 Seats from Party-List

MSM MMR = 18 Seats from Party-list

For a PR of 30 seats, 1995 elections

Labour Party MMM = 9 Seats from Party-List

MSM MMR = 21 Seats from Party-list

100.00

62

20

82

1995 Elections PR Results simulation

120.00

100.00

Pourcentage

80.00

60.00

40.00

20.00

0.00
60 61

62 63 64

65 66 67 68 69

70 71

72 73

74 75 76 77 78

79 80

81 82 83

84 85 86 87 88

89 90

Number of seats
Labour Party-MMM Votes

Labour Party-MMM Seats

MSM-MMR Votes

MSM-MMR Seats

2000 Elections
In 2000, the MMM-MSM alliance received 951643 votes representing 51.70 percent of votes
whereas the Labour Party-PMXD alliance received 673145 votes representing 36.57 percent of
total votes. In terms of seats, the MMM-MSM alliance received 54 seats representing 90 percent
of seats whereas the Labour Party-PMXD alliance received 6 seat representing 10 percent of total
seats.
2000 Elections

Vote %
Relative%
Add. Seat
1
2
3

MSMMMM
Votes
951643
51.70
58.57
PR Value
17,302.60
17,302.60
17,302.60

MSMMM
M
Seats
54

54
54
54

Labour
PartyPMXD
Votes
673145
36.57
41.43
PR Value
96,163.57
84,143.13
74,793.89

Labour
PartyPMXD
Seats
6

MSMMM
M
Seats
%
90.00

Labour
PartyPMXD
Seats%
10.00

7
8
9

88.52
87.10
85.71

11.48
12.90
14.29

4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

17,302.60
17,302.60
17,302.60
17,302.60
17,302.60
17,302.60
17,302.60
17,302.60
17,302.60
17,302.60
17,302.60
17,302.60
17,302.60
17,302.60
17,302.60
17,302.60
17,302.60
17,302.60
17,302.60
17,302.60
17,302.60
17,302.60
17,302.60
17,302.60
17,302.60
17,302.60
17,302.60

54
54
54
54
54
54
54
54
54
54
54
54
54
54
54
54
54
54
54
54
54
54
54
54
54
54
54

67,314.50
61,195.00
56,095.42
51,780.38
48,081.79
44,876.33
42,071.56
39,596.76
37,396.94
35,428.68
33,657.25
32,054.52
30,597.50
29,267.17
28,047.71
26,925.80
25,890.19
24,931.30
24,040.89
23,211.90
22,438.17
21,714.35
21,035.78
20,398.33
19,798.38
19,232.71
18,698.47

For a PR of 20 seats, 2000 elections

MMM MSM = 0 Seats from Party-List

Labour Party PMXD = 20 Seats from Party-list

For a PR of 30 seats, 2000 elections

MMM MSM = 0 Seats from Party-List

Labour Party PMXD = 30 Seats from Party-list

10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36

84.38
83.08
81.82
80.60
79.41
78.26
77.14
76.06
75.00
73.97
72.97
72.00
71.05
70.13
69.23
68.35
67.50
66.67
65.85
65.06
64.29
63.53
62.79
62.07
61.36
60.67
60.00

15.63
16.92
18.18
19.40
20.59
21.74
22.86
23.94
25.00
26.03
27.03
28.00
28.95
29.87
30.77
31.65
32.50
33.33
34.15
34.94
35.71
36.47
37.21
37.93
38.64
39.33
40.00

2000 Election PR Results Simulation

100.00
90.00
80.00

Pourcentage

70.00
60.00
50.00
40.00
30.00
20.00
10.00
0.00
60 61

62 63 64

65 66 67 68 69

70 71

72 73

74 75 76 77 78

79 80

81 82 83

84 85 86 87 88

89 90

Number of Seats
MSM-MMM Votes%

MSM-MMM Seats%

Labour Party- PMXD

Votes%

Labour Party- PMXD

Seats%

2005 ELECTIONS
In 2005, the Labour-PMXD alliance received 948,766 votes representing 48.80 percent of total
votes whereas the MMM-MSM PMSD alliance received 829,460 votes representing 42.8560
percent of total votes. In terms of seats, the Labour-PMXD alliance received 38 seats representing
63.33 percent of seats whereas the MMM-MSM PMSD alliance received 22 seat representing
36.67 percent of total seats.
2005 Elections

Vote %
Relative %
Additional
Seat
1
2
3

LabourPMXD
Votes
948,766
48.80
53.39
PR Value
24,327.33
24,327.33
24,327.33

LabourPMXD
Seats
38

38
38
38

MMM MSM
PMSD
Votes
829,460
42.60
46.61
PR Value
36,063.48
34,560.83
33,178.40

MMM
MSM
PMSD
Seats
22

LabourPMXD
Seats%
63.33

MMM MSM
PMSD
Seats%
36.67

23
24
25

62.30
61.29
60.32

37.70
38.71
39.68

4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

24,327.33
24,327.33
24,327.33
24,327.33
24,327.33
24,327.33
24,327.33
24,327.33
24,327.33
24,327.33
23,719.15
23,140.63
23,140.63
22,589.67
22,589.67
22,064.33
22,064.33
21,562.86
21,562.86
21,083.69
21,083.69
20,625.35
20,625.35
20,186.51
20,186.51
19,765.96
19,362.57

38
38
38
38
38
38
38
38
38
39
40
40
41
41
42
42
43
43
44
44
45
45
46
46
47
48
48

31,902.31
30,720.74
29,623.57
28,602.07
27,648.67
26,756.77
25,920.63
25,135.15
24,395.88
23,698.86
23,698.86
23,698.86
23,040.56
23,040.56
22,417.84
22,417.84
21,827.89
21,827.89
21,268.21
21,268.21
20,736.50
20,736.50
20,230.73
20,230.73
19,749.05
19,749.05
19,749.05

For a PR of 20 seats, 2005 elections

Labour Party PMXD = 5 Seats from Party-List

MMM MSM = 15 Seats from Party-list

For a PR of 30 seats, 2005 elections

Labour Party PMXD = 10 Seats from Party-List

MMM MSM = 20 Seats from Party-list

26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
34
34
35
35
36
36
37
37
38
38
39
39
40
40
41
41
41
42

59.38
58.46
57.58
56.72
55.88
55.07
54.29
53.52
52.78
53.42
54.05
53.33
53.95
53.25
53.85
53.16
53.75
53.09
53.66
53.01
53.57
52.94
53.49
52.87
53.41
53.93
53.33

40.63
41.54
42.42
43.28
44.12
44.93
45.71
46.48
47.22
46.58
45.95
46.67
46.05
46.75
46.15
46.84
46.25
46.91
46.34
46.99
46.43
47.06
46.51
47.13
46.59
46.07
46.67

2005 Elections PR Results simulation

70.00

60.00

Pourcentage

50.00

40.00

30.00

20.00

10.00

0.00
60

61

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

69 70

71

72

73

74

75

76

77

78

79

80 81

82

83

84

85

86

87

88

89

90

Number of Seats
Labour-PMXD Votes

Labour-PMXD Seats

MMM - MSM PMSD

Votes

MMM - MSM PMSD

Seats

2010 ELECTIONS
In 2010, the Labour Party-MSM- PMSD alliance received 1,001,903 votes representing 49.69
percent of total votes whereas the MMM-UN-MMSD alliance received 847,095 votes representing
42.01 percent of total votes. In terms of seats, the Labour Party-MSM- PMSD alliance received 41
seats representing 68.33 percent of seats whereas the MSM-MMR alliance received 18 seats
representing 30 percent of total seats. The FSN scored 51161 votes with a percentage of 2.54 of
the total votes. In terms of seats, the FSN got one seat with a percentage of 1.67 out of total seats

MMMUNMMSD
Votes
847,095
42.01

Vote %
Relative
%
Add.
Seat
1

MMMUNMMSD
Seats
18

LabourMSMPMSD
Votes
1,001,903
49.69

45.81

54.19

PR Value
44,583.95

PR Value
23,854.83

19

LabourMSMPMSD
Seats
41

MMMUNMMSD
SEATS
%
30.00

LabourMSM
PMSD
SEATS %
68.33

41

31.15

67.21

2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

42,354.75
40,337.86
38,504.32
36,830.22
35,295.63
33,883.80
32,580.58
31,373.89
30,253.39
29,210.17
28,236.50
27,325.65
26,471.72
25,669.55
24,914.56
24,202.71
23,530.42
23,530.42
22,894.46
22,894.46
22,291.97
22,291.97
21,720.38
21,720.38
21,720.38
21,177.38
21,177.38
20,660.85
20,660.85

20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
35
36
36
37
37
38
38
38
39
39
40
40
41

23,854.83
23,854.83
23,854.83
23,854.83
23,854.83
23,854.83
23,854.83
23,854.83
23,854.83
23,854.83
23,854.83
23,854.83
23,854.83
23,854.83
23,854.83
23,854.83
23,854.83
23,300.07
23,300.07
22,770.52
22,770.52
22,264.51
22,264.51
21,780.50
21,317.09
21,317.09
20,872.98
20,872.98
20,447.00

For a PR of 20 seats, 2010 elections

Labour Party MSM - PMSD = 2 Seats from Party-List

MMM-UNMMSD = 18 Seats from Party-list

For a PR of 30 seats, 2010 elections

Labour Party MSM - PMSD = 7 Seats from Party-List

MMM-UNMMSD = 23 Seats from Party-list

41
41
41
41
41
41
41
41
41
41
41
41
41
41
41
41
42
42
43
43
44
44
45
46
46
47
47
48
48

32.26
33.33
34.38
35.38
36.36
37.31
38.24
39.13
40.00
40.85
41.67
42.47
43.24
44.00
44.74
45.45
44.87
45.57
45.00
45.68
45.12
45.78
45.24
44.71
45.35
44.83
45.45
44.94
45.56

66.13
65.08
64.06
63.08
62.12
61.19
60.29
59.42
58.57
57.75
56.94
56.16
55.41
54.67
53.95
53.25
53.85
53.16
53.75
53.09
53.66
53.01
53.57
54.12
53.49
54.02
53.41
53.93
53.33

2010 Elections PR Results simulation

80.00

70.00

60.00

Pourcentage

50.00

40.00

30.00

20.00

10.00

0.00
60

61

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

75

76

77

78

79

80

81

82

83

84

85

86

87

88

89

90

Number of Seats
MMM-UN-MMSD Votes

MMM-UN-MMSD Seats

Labour Party-MSM- PMSD

Votes

Labour Party-MSM- PMSD

The Simulation exercise can be summarized in the table below:

Date
1995
2000
2005

2010

Party/Alliance
Labour Party MMM
MSM MMR
MMM MSM
Labour Party PMXD
Labour Party PMXD
MMM MSM
Labour Party MSM PMSD
MMM-UNMMSD

Constituency
60
0
54
6
38
22
41
18

PR 20
Seats

PR 30
Seats
2
18
0
20
5
15

9
21
0
30
10
20

2
18

7
23

Seats

In the simulation exercise above on the past elections, we have seen the following:

In 1995, the MSM-MMR alliance could have elected 18 or 21 PR seats under PR 20 or PR 30

respectively

In 2000, the Labour Party PMXD alliance could have elected 20 or 30 PR seats under PR 20
or PR 30 respectively

In 2005, the MMM MSM alliance could have elected 15 or 20 PR seats under PR 20 or PR
30 respectively

In 2010, the MMM-UNMMSD alliance could have elected 18 or 23 PR seats under PR 20 or

PR 30 respectively
Since the high number of candidates is elected through the party list under the PR representative,
the party or alliance just need to ensure that the list they submit to the Electoral Commissioner is
inclusive of all communities cared so far under the Best Loser System. A list of 30 members is
much safer in this purpose.
70

60

60
54

50
41
38

40

30

30
21
18

20

23

22

20

20

18 18

15
10

10

6
2

0
Labour Party
MMM
1995

MSM MMR

5
2

MMM MSM

Labour Party
PMXD

Labour Party
PMXD

2000
Constituency

MMM MSM

2005
PR 20 Seats

Labour Party
MSM - PMSD

MMM-UNMMSD

2010

PR 30 Seats

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this document are those of the author (Dave Kissoondoyal) and
do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to the MMM