BY E. L. PIESSE, B.SC, LL.B. 75 



that remainders are not taken into account at all. The 

 Belgian rule works to the advantage of _ the largest party, a 

 fact that many may consider as a point in its favour. A fur- 

 ther simple example will show the force of this statement. 

 Assume that 11 seats are being contested by three parties, 

 whose votes are as follows : — 



Party A 6000 votes 

 Party B 4800 votes 

 Party C 1900 votes 



Total 13,700 



Arrange these numbers in a line and divide successively by 

 1, 2, 3, and so on, thus : — 



The eleventh highest number, which constitutes the measur- 

 ing rod, will be found to be 1000; the largest party obtains 

 6 seats, the second party obtains 4 seats, with a remainder 

 of 800 votes, and the third only one seat, with a remainder 

 of 900 votes. The two smaller parties taken together poll 

 6700 votes but only 5 seats, as compared with the 6 seats 

 obtained by the larger party with 6000 votes, the two 

 remainders, 800 and 900 vot-es which, together, constitute 

 more than a quota, having no influence on the result of the 

 election. Even if, in the allotment of seats, the largest party 

 has a remainder of votes not utilised, yet this remainder 

 necessarily bears a smaller proportion to the total of the votes 

 polled than is the case with a small party. Thus the system 

 works steadily in favour of the larger party. 



47. We are now in a position to compare the representa- 

 tion which will be given in a three-party contest by — 



(a) The first, or rule-of-three, method ; 

 (6) The second method (number of votes to a mem- 

 . ber as nearly as possible the same for each 

 party), 

 (r) The D'Hondt method. 



The following tables show the representation given by 

 each method for cases in which the largest party has rather 

 more than half of the votes. Other cases can be com- 

 pared in the same way. 



The numbers in the columns x, y, z are the members for 

 the parties. The strengths at which the representation 

 changes are tabulated ; where there is no entry in the ic, y, z 

 columns, the representation is the same as at the next 

 higher entry. 



