Proportional Representation: A Study in Methods of Election Part 26

[Footnote 1: The minority would, of course, have had a better chance with six divisions. Dr. Ed. Bernstein, to whom the author submitted this memorandum, makes the following comment: "I am not so sure that the equalization of the size of the const.i.tuencies would in 1903 have secured to the Social Democratic party a number of seats far in excess of its voting strength. But this is a subordinate consideration. The possibility of an unproportional representation of parties, even if the seats are equally distributed, is undeniably there, and this ought to settle the question.]

APPENDIX III

THE SWEDISH SYSTEM OF PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION

The principle of proportional representation was first discussed in Sweden in 1867. The new Danish Const.i.tution of that year provided for the use of the transferable vote (Andrae's scheme) in the election of the Upper House, and Herr S. G. Troil proposed in the Swedish Parliament that the three most important of its committees should be elected by means of the same system. The motion was not carried, and a similar motion, made by Professor H. L. Ryon in 1878, was equally unsuccessful.

It was not until 1896 that the next step was taken, when the Government, in view of the increasing demand for a more democratic franchise, proposed a proportional system of election. Nothing came of this proposal immediately, but from this date the agitation for an extension of the franchise gave rise to the demand for the proportional method of election in order to ensure the representation of minorities.

_The former const.i.tution of the two chambers_.]

The story of the struggle for reform will best be understood if prefaced by a statement of the franchise conditions previously existing in Sweden. The Upper, or First, Chamber of the Riksdag, was elected by members of the provincial councils and of the councils of the five largest towns. The other towns sent members to their provincial councils. The members of provincial councils were elected in two stages; the primary electors chose electors of the second degree, who in turn chose the councillors. The primary electors in the country[1] had ten votes for every 100 kroner of rateable income, subject to a limit of 5000 votes. The electors of the second degree had only one vote in the election of councillors, and councillors had only one vote in the election of members of the First Chamber of the Riksdag. Owing to the great advantage conferred upon primary electors possessed of large incomes these electors largely controlled not only the composition of the town and provincial councils, but also the composition of the Upper Chamber. The election of members of the Lower Chamber of Parliament was direct; every person of not less than 800 kroner income was ent.i.tled to vote, but no one was ent.i.tled to more than one vote.

_The struggle for electoral reform_.

In 1899 M. Branting, the leader of the Socialist Party, proposed the adoption of proportional representation, coupled with universal and equal suffrage for the election of town councils. The main object of this proposal was to place town councils on a more democratic basis, but as the five largest councils elected representatives to the First Chamber the proposal would have had some influence upon the composition of that House. M. Branting's proposal was rejected, and when revived two years later met a similar fate. In 1902 two Liberals (MM. Hedlund and Carlsson) proposed that provincial councils should be elected by a proportional method on the basis of manhood suffrage, whilst a similar proposition was made in the same year in respect of the elections of the Lower House of Parliament. Both these motions were rejected, but in response to a demand from both Houses for an inquiry a Royal Commission was appointed to consider the problem of electoral reform. The Commission reported in the following year in favour of a list system of proportional representation with official ballot papers, and the Government proposed this system combined with manhood suffrage for the election of members for the Lower Chamber. This proposal was accepted in 1904 in the Upper Chamber, but rejected in the Lower Chamber by five votes. Next year it was again discussed, accepted by the Upper Chamber but rejected in the Lower by a majority of ten. A change of ministry took place, and in 1906 M. Staaff, the Liberal Prime Minister, proposed manhood suffrage with the "majority" system of election. But the Moderate Party insisted upon a proportional system, and the proposals of the Liberal ministry were rejected by the Upper Chamber. M. Alfred Petersson, of Paboda, then proposed manhood suffrage with a proportional system for the Lower Chamber, and a proportional system for the Upper Chamber, which, however, was to be elected as before by the provincial councils. This proposal was rejected by the Lower Chamber but accepted by the Upper Chamber, and M, Staaff resigned. The Moderates, with M.

Lindman as Prime Minister, then introduced a Bill incorporating M.

Petersson's proposals with the addition of the direct election of provincial councils and a less plutocratic franchise. This measure, which was adopted by both Houses in 1907, was confirmed after a General Election in 1909.

_The Swedish law of 1909_.

Under this law the proportional system is applied to elections for both Houses of Parliament, all parliamentary committees, town councils and provincial councils. For the Lower Chamber there is manhood suffrage.

The Upper Chamber is elected still by the provincial councils and by the town councils of the five largest towns, but the elections of provincial councils are now direct. But, in order to maintain as much continuity as possible in the composition of the Upper Chamber, only one-sixth of the House is renewed every year. The maximum number of votes in the elections of both provincial and town councils is forty. The first election under the new system took place in 1909, when the Stockholm Town Council and several provincial councils were called upon to elect their proportion of members of the Upper House. In March 1910 the first elections to the Stockholm Town Council were held, and in the following May there were elections under the new system for all the provincial councils. In 1911 the first elections to the Lower House of Parliament will take place.

In Sweden, even under the new law, there are no official ballot papers and no nominations of candidates. This arrangement is supposed to preserve to the electors the fullest possible liberty in voting. In practice the party organizations print ballot papers containing the names of the candidates whom they support, and these printed forms are accepted by the returning officers. Every elector, however, is at liberty to strike out any of the names on these papers, to subst.i.tute other names, to vary the order in which the names are printed, or to prepare his own ballot paper.[2]

_The Swedish system of proportional representation_.]

The mechanism of the proportional system adopted has had regard to the practice mentioned in the preceding paragraph. The first proposal, that of M. Petersson, of Paboda, was only a crude approximation towards a proportional system. His scheme, in brief, was (1) that the number of votes recorded for each candidate should be ascertained; (2) that the candidate with the highest number of votes should be declared elected; (3) that a further count should then take place, the papers on which the successful candidate's name appeared being treated as of the value of one-half. The remaining candidates whose names appeared on these papers would be credited with half a vote in respect of each such paper. The non-elected candidates would then be arranged according to the number of votes obtained, the highest being declared elected. As soon as any two names on any ballot paper had been declared successful a fresh count would take place, such papers being treated as of the value of one-third. This process of reducing the value of the paper as soon as a further candidate appearing thereon was elected was to be continued until all the seats were allotted. The principle underlying this distribution of seats is the same as that contained in the d'Hondt rule of the Belgian system. A group of electors which was more than twice as numerous as any other group would obtain two seats before any was allotted to a smaller group. If the group was more than three times as large as any other it would obtain three seats before the smaller group received one, and so on. It was at once recognized that this scheme would tell considerably in favour of well-organized parties--parties whose supporters would accept the ballot papers printed for them without question. An example will make this clear. If, taking an extreme case, in an election for three members 8000 voters placed the names of two candidates, P and Q, on each of their ballot papers, whilst a more loosely organized group of 13,000 voters spread its support over four candidates, T, S, V and W, different sections voting for these candidates independently, the following result might take place:--

P Q . . 8,000 T . . . 4,000 S . . . 3,500 V . . . 3,000 W . . . 2,500

Candidate P, being the first in order on the 8000 ballot papers of the first group, would be declared elected, and Q, the remaining name on these ballot papers, would be credited with 4000 votes--half the original value of the papers. Q and T, having 4000 votes each, would then be declared elected. Thus one group, with 8000 votes, would carry two seats, and the other, with 13,000 votes, would only obtain one--a result due to a lack of combination.

_The allotment of seats to parties_.

The plan finally adopted is based on M. Petersson's proposal, but provides, as in the Belgian scheme, for the official recognition of parties. Electors may write at the head of their ballot papers the name or motto of a party. The papers bearing the same name or motto are then grouped together, the numbers in each group ascertained, and the seats available are allotted to these groups in accordance with the d'Hondt rule, irrespective of the number of votes obtained by individual candidates. Thus, in the example given, if electors of the second group had all headed their ballot papers with the same party name or motto the particular way in which they had distributed their votes among the candidates would not have affected the number of seats obtained by the group as a whole. The first group would have obtained one, and the second two seats.

_The selection of the successful candidates_.

The position of the candidates on each list is determined in accordance with the original proposal of M. Petersson. The candidate receiving the highest number of votes is declared elected, the papers on which his name appears are then marked down to the value of one-half, the relative position of the remaining candidates ascertained afresh, and the highest of these declared elected, and so on. This procedure, called the reduction rule, is however subordinate to a further rule (the rule of the order of preference), which is as follows. If more than one-half of the supporters of a party list have placed the same candidate at the head of their ballot papers, the first seat apportioned to the list is allotted to this candidate; if more than two-thirds have placed the same two candidates in the same order at the head of the ballot papers, these two candidates have the first claim to the seats apportioned to the party; if more than three-fourths have placed the same three candidates in the same order at the head of the list, these are given the first, second, and third seats, and so on. The selection of the successful candidates is determined in accordance with this rule so far as possible, but as soon as the application of the rule breaks down the relative claims of the non-elected candidates on the list are determined in accordance with the reduction rule. But if, say, three candidates have been declared elected in accordance with the rule of the order of preference, and it is necessary to choose others by the reduction rule, the papers containing these three names are treated as of the value of one-fourth in determining the relative position of the remaining candidates of the group.

_Free voters and double candidatures._

In order to complete the description of the Swedish system two subsidiary features, which will seldom come into play in actual elections, must be mentioned. Provision is made for those electors who owe no party allegiance, and who therefore do not wish to place any party name or motto at the head of their list. Such voters are called "free voters," and the votes recorded for their candidates are ascertained. These candidates are placed in a group by themselves, called the free group, but the number of votes recorded for each individual candidate in this group, and not the total number of votes recorded for all the candidates, forms the basis of comparison with the totals of the party lists in the allotment of seats. The second feature provides for the improbable case of two groups of electors or parties having placed the same candidate upon their list. In the event of such candidate being so favourably placed in two lists as to be elected by both parties, then, for the purpose of ascertaining the new value of the papers on which his name appears, each list is debited with half a seat.

When, as already explained, one seat has been allotted to a list, the list total is divided by two in accordance with the d'Hondt rule for the purpose of the fresh comparison of totals; but if this candidate has already been elected on another list the total would be divided by one and a half instead of by two. A fresh total would be ascertained for each of the lists containing the candidate's name.

_An election at Carlskrona._

The author was permitted by the courtesy of the Burgomaster of Carlskrona to watch the election of provincial councillors on 24 May 1910, to represent the city in the Bleking provincial council, and a description of this election will show how the system works in practice.

Carlskrona is ent.i.tled to nine members. For the purpose of the election the town was divided into two parts, but the polling place in each division was at the town hall. The register was prepared fourteen days before the election, and stated in addition to the name, address, and occupation of the elector, the amount of his (or her) rateable income and the number of votes to which he (or she) was ent.i.tled. The conduct of the election was in the hands of the Burgomaster, a.s.sisted by the magistrates of the town. As already explained, there were no official ballot papers and no nominations of candidates. Each elector voted for such candidates as he pleased, provided they possessed the necessary qualifications--those of an ordinary elector. Three parties--the Moderate, Liberal, and Labour--contested the election. Each party printed ballot papers containing the names of the candidates adopted by the party organization and with the name of the party at the head of the ballot paper. The ballot paper issued by the Moderate party was in the following form:--

_De Moderata_

_Borgmastaren_--O. Holmdahl.

_Grosshandlaren_--N. P. Nordstrom.

_Lasarettslakaren_--R. Lundmark.

_Disponenten_--H. Berggren.

_Kommendoren_--G. Lagercrantz.

_Rdmannen_--C. G. Ewerlof.

_Chefsintendenten_--I. Neuendorff.

_Kaptenen, friherre_--F. E. von Otter.

_Underofficeren af 2: dra graden_--O. W. Stromberg.

_Folkskollararen_--H. E. Mattsson.

_Byggmastaren_--K. J. A. Johansson.

_Handlanden_--Aug. Andren.

_The Poll._

The ballot papers could be obtained at the committee rooms on, or prior to, the day of election, and also on the day of election from party agents at the doors of the polling stations. Each elector took his ballot paper folded to the Burgomaster, or presiding magistrate, who endorsed the back with the number of votes to which the elector was ent.i.tled. The presiding magistrate was a.s.sisted by two others who checked the accuracy of the proceedings. The poll opened at 10 A.M., the proceedings were adjourned for lunch at 1 P.M., the poll was again opened during the afternoon and closed about 8 P.M. The counting took place next day when, as comparatively few electors took advantage of their right to vary the order of the names as printed on the ballot papers, the number of votes recorded for each candidate was easily ascertained. Nor did the varying values of the ballot papers present any great difficulty. A calculating machine made the necessary additions both quickly and accurately. In this election only one paper was spoiled,[3] and it was very obvious that the provision of printed ballot papers by the party organizations made the act of voting a very simple one. The votes recorded for the different parties were as follows:--

Moderate . . . . . 20,334 Liberal . . . . . 8,732 Labour . . . . . 3,617

_The allotment of seats to parties.

There were nine seats to be distributed among the three parties. The distribution was carried out in accordance the d'Hondt rule, but the method of applying this rule differed from that employed in Belgium. In Belgium the party totals would have been divided by the numerals 1, 2, 3, &c., and the quotients ranged in order of magnitude, the ninth in order being termed the "electoral quotient." Each party would have received as many seats as its total contained this quotient. The Swedish method provides for the allotment of one seat at a time, and it does so because of the possibility of the same candidate being elected by more than one party. Save in the rare case mentioned, the arithmetical operations, though differently presented, are identical with those of the Belgian system. Thus, at Carlskrona the first seat was given to the Moderates--that party having received the highest number of votes.

Before the next seat was allotted the value of the Moderate total was reduced by one-half, and the new total was then compared with the original totals of the other parties. The totals to be considered in the allotment of the second seat were, therefore, as follows:--

Moderate. . . . . 10,167 Liberal . . . . . 8,732 Labour . . . . . 3,617

The Moderate party being still credited with the highest total received the second seat, and their original total, 20,334, was then divided by three in order to ascertain to whom the third seat should be allotted.

The totals at this stage were as follows:--

Moderate . . . . . 6,778 Liberal . . . . . 8,732 Labour . . . . . 3,617

The Liberal total being now the highest, this party received the third seat, and in order to ascertain to whom the fourth seat should be given the Liberal total was reduced in value by one-half, the totals of the other parties remaining as at the previous allotment. The totals for comparison were now:--

Moderate . . . . . 6,778 Liberal . . . . . 4,366 Labour . . . . . 3,617

The Moderate total was again the highest, and the party received the fourth seat. The process of reducing the totals in succession according to the foregoing rule was continued until all the nine seats were allotted. In this election the Moderates obtained six seats, the Liberals two, and Labour one.

_The selection of the successful candidates._

The returning officer had then to determine which candidates on each list should be declared successful. In the Carlskrona election this task was extremely simple, for the large majority of the voters had accepted the ballot papers provided for them by their parties. No less than 19,756 votes out of a total of 20,334 had been received for the Moderate list as printed by the party organization. The totals for each candidate were quickly ascertained. Moreover, it was possible to select all the successful candidates by the rule of the order of preference.

More than six-sevenths of the Moderate votes having been recorded for the list as printed, the first six names on the list were declared elected. Of the Liberal votes, 8118 out of a total of 8732 were recorded for the party list as printed, and as this number const.i.tuted more than two-thirds of the total, the first two names on the list were declared elected. With regard to the Labour party, 3580 out of a total of 3617 votes had been recorded for the party list, and the first candidate on the list was therefore declared elected.

_The election of suppleants.