Name:______________________

Date:________________
Period:______

Proportional Representation (PR) vs. Single-Member-Districts (SMD)

The hypothetical country shown below, Davistan, is a multiparty democracy

with a legislature of 400 members. After an election is completed, each
political party will receive a percentage of those seats in the legislature equal
to the percentage they received in the election.

This year’s election results:

Conservative Party 36%
Liberal Party 28%
Labor Party 15%
Socialist Party 13%
Government Reform Party 8%

How many seats in the legislature will each party get?

Conservative ___144___
Liberal ___112___
Labor ___60___
Socialist ___52___
Government Reform ___32___
The system you have just observed showed each party receiving some
representation in the legislature. What would happen if Davistan converted
to a single member district system?

The map shown below is a small piece of Davistan known as Teachifornia,

located in the southwestern part of the country. Teachifornia is divided into
8 districts, each electing only one member to the legislature. To be elected
requires a plurality (the most votes), not necessarily a majority.

Election results for each district:

District 1 District 2 District 3 Gov – 4%

Cons – 39% Cons – 25% Cons – 40% District 4
Lib – 22% Lib – 44% Lib – 42% Cons – 51%
Lab – 21% Lab – 15% Lab – 5% Lib – 26%
Soc – 8% Soc – 10% Soc – 1% Lab – 8%
Gov – 8% Gov – 6% Gov – 2% Soc – 5%
Gov – 10%
District 5 District 6 District 7
Cons – 35% Cons – 27% Cons – District 8
Lib – 31% Lib – 55% 60% Cons – 39%
Lab – 20% Lab – 6% Lib – 28% Lib – 31%
Soc – 4% Soc – 10% Lab – 4% Lab – 9%
Gov – 10% Gov – 2% Soc – 4% Soc – 6%
Gov – 5%
Which party will represent each district?
1 _______cons___________
2 _______lib___________
3 _______lib___________
4 _______cons__________
5 _______cons___________
6 _______lib__________
7 _______cons___________
8 _______cons___________

How much representation did the Labor, Socialist, and Government

Reform Parties receive for their results in the election? Why?

They received zero representation from the election because even though
they had votes, they were never the majority in one district, which means
that they won’t be represented.

Look specifically at the election results for districts 5 and 8. If members

of the Labor Party agree somewhat with the Liberal Party, but totally
disagree with the Conservative Party, what could they do in the next
elections?

They could vote for the liberal party instead of their own labor party to make
sure that the liberal party wins in their district instead of the conservative
party because they would want the liberal party to win rather than the
conservative party.
- Form a coalition

Explain in your own words how the single-member district system shuts
out 3rd / minor parties from the political process.

Single-member district systems shuts up 3rd minor parties because even

though they might exist in every district and as a whole they might be a
significant part of the population, if they live in separate districts, the major
parties such as the liberal party or the conservative party would most likely
gain control of their district, and there will be less chance for the 3 rd minor
parties to even win one district from elections.