UK 2010 election: What if the d'Hondt electoral system had been used?
Please note: I did not do the calculations for this one, but rather used the figures produced by @HMcEvansoneya as shown here: davidhartery.blogspot.com/2010/05/proportional-representation-in-uk.html. So credit to him for working this out.
Licence: This image and accompanying description is licensed under a creative commons licence. This means that you can reproduce it for free, but you must credit me for creating it and link back to this page, e.g. "(cc) oledoe flic.kr/p/7ZZD7e". If any political party or other organisation or individual with political affiliation or tendency uses these, they should make it clear that I am not endorsing them or any other political party or cause. Note that the original creator of these calculations may also have an opinion about how it should or should not be used.
UK 2010 “what if” general election results
The UK has just voted in a general election and the result is a parliament with no party having an outright majority. One of the issues being hotly debated is electoral reform, potentially changing from a plurality (first past the post) system to one of proportional representation. There are many different models for this, each with benefits and drawbacks. Some seek to reflect the diverse views of the electorate as accurately as possible, others reduce this accuracy for greater governability or perceived fairness (e.g. amplifying or reducing results for small parties or regions).
This is just a thought experiment to satisfy my curiosity about what the UK parliament would look like had the votes in the 2010 general election been cast in a different electoral system. The four examples given are “pure proportional representation”, the Spanish system, the German system and counting the vootes according to the d'Hondt method. Because of the differences in numbers of MPs, regions and numbers of votes, the results of these examples are necessarily approximations. If any such system was used in the UK, it would first have to be adapted to its unique circumstances. Last but not least, many voters may have voted differently in a different system. So, do add a grain of salt to these results!
Actual UK results for comparison: flic.kr/p/7Zv9yA
"Pure" proportional representation: flic.kr/p/7Zv9Gy
Spanish system: flic.kr/p/7Zv9Md
German system: flic.kr/p/7ZrYpv
d'Hondt system: flic.kr/p/7ZZD7e
Note: In order to try and illustrate possible majorities, I had to put the parties into some kind of order from left to right. Since I am not familiar with many of the smaller parties, they may be in an order that doesn't make much sense. No offence intended. I'd appreciate suggestions for improvement.
Note: the data source is the election result as reported by the BBC here: news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/election2010/results/ . At the time of writing, 649 out of 650 seats have been declared. Where applicable to these calculations, I am assuming that the Conservatives will win the seat in Thirsk & Malton.
--- ABOUT THIS IMAGE ---
This image ( flic.kr/p/7ZZD7e ) shows the hypothetical result of the UK 2010 general election if the seats in Parliament had been allocated using the d'Hondt method. I did not do these calculations. Please find all the details at the original source here: davidhartery.blogspot.com/2010/05/proportional-representation-in-uk.html.
UK 2010 election: What if the d'Hondt electoral system had been used?
Please note: I did not do the calculations for this one, but rather used the figures produced by @HMcEvansoneya as shown here: davidhartery.blogspot.com/2010/05/proportional-representation-in-uk.html. So credit to him for working this out.
Licence: This image and accompanying description is licensed under a creative commons licence. This means that you can reproduce it for free, but you must credit me for creating it and link back to this page, e.g. "(cc) oledoe flic.kr/p/7ZZD7e". If any political party or other organisation or individual with political affiliation or tendency uses these, they should make it clear that I am not endorsing them or any other political party or cause. Note that the original creator of these calculations may also have an opinion about how it should or should not be used.
UK 2010 “what if” general election results
The UK has just voted in a general election and the result is a parliament with no party having an outright majority. One of the issues being hotly debated is electoral reform, potentially changing from a plurality (first past the post) system to one of proportional representation. There are many different models for this, each with benefits and drawbacks. Some seek to reflect the diverse views of the electorate as accurately as possible, others reduce this accuracy for greater governability or perceived fairness (e.g. amplifying or reducing results for small parties or regions).
This is just a thought experiment to satisfy my curiosity about what the UK parliament would look like had the votes in the 2010 general election been cast in a different electoral system. The four examples given are “pure proportional representation”, the Spanish system, the German system and counting the vootes according to the d'Hondt method. Because of the differences in numbers of MPs, regions and numbers of votes, the results of these examples are necessarily approximations. If any such system was used in the UK, it would first have to be adapted to its unique circumstances. Last but not least, many voters may have voted differently in a different system. So, do add a grain of salt to these results!
Actual UK results for comparison: flic.kr/p/7Zv9yA
"Pure" proportional representation: flic.kr/p/7Zv9Gy
Spanish system: flic.kr/p/7Zv9Md
German system: flic.kr/p/7ZrYpv
d'Hondt system: flic.kr/p/7ZZD7e
Note: In order to try and illustrate possible majorities, I had to put the parties into some kind of order from left to right. Since I am not familiar with many of the smaller parties, they may be in an order that doesn't make much sense. No offence intended. I'd appreciate suggestions for improvement.
Note: the data source is the election result as reported by the BBC here: news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/election2010/results/ . At the time of writing, 649 out of 650 seats have been declared. Where applicable to these calculations, I am assuming that the Conservatives will win the seat in Thirsk & Malton.
--- ABOUT THIS IMAGE ---
This image ( flic.kr/p/7ZZD7e ) shows the hypothetical result of the UK 2010 general election if the seats in Parliament had been allocated using the d'Hondt method. I did not do these calculations. Please find all the details at the original source here: davidhartery.blogspot.com/2010/05/proportional-representation-in-uk.html.