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SUNDAY POUCH

Why not proportional representation?
**An important aspect of the proportional system of representation is that no single party in the country will be able to sweep the polls and establish a "tyranny of the majority." Several parties contest the polls and each party's voter support is taken into account while deciding parliamentary seats.**
Those who wrote our constitution opted for democratic governance because they wanted to build a society where divergent
views on national issues would be welcome. Through discussion inside the parliament, policies would then be formulated, which would be to the benefit of the people. Though such debate may raise heat in parliament, the authors thought that it would not in any way vitiate politics and polarise our society.
But this was not to be. The two main political parties, the Awami League (AL) and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) had alternatively formed the government every five years with a majority. But it was seen that the party that commanded majority of the seats often overwhelmed and cowed the opposition. A vicious cycle of political revenge and counter-revenge was injected into our politics.
Various group coalesced on either side and the society itself seemed divided. But this was not what the citizens wanted. They had sought a political system that would advance their interests, keeping society united, in order to be able to release their creative energies for economic growth.
In Bangladesh, the people are now fatigued with the shenanigans of some of the political leaders who run down each other in the name of democratic politics. They are not only denigrating themselves but are also damaging social cohesion. Our bureaucracy, our educational institutions, our security forces all seem to be sucked into this political whirlpool. When are we to see an end to this?
According to some experts, it is the electoral system which we practice that polarises our people and tends to cause fissures in our society.
We practice what is called "first past the post" electoral system. We award a seat in the latiya Sangsad to a candidate who receives the most votes in a political constituency.
The candidate need not even get a majority (50% +) of the votes. Any candidate getting the most votes is declared the winner. Many say that this electoral system, in theory at least, if dominated by two political parties, supports the growth of a relatively stable political system. The two major parties in Bangladesh come alternately to power.
But in practice, what we have seen is that the party which returns with a clear majority in parliament often rides roughshod over the electorate. It employs various tactics to see that its
writ rules the roost. This creates deep dissatisfaction among the people. The "first past the post" system is therefore also called "winner takes all" system. How belittling it is to the voters as well as to the opposition!
If our present electoral system seem somewhat defective, then can we not consider using the proportional representation system applying "the D'hondt formula"?
The proportional system is quite simple. Instead of electing a member of the parliament from a single member constituency, as is now done in Bangladesh, we can elect several members from each political constituency. Voters in this case do not cast their vote for a candidate, but vote for a political party of his/her choice run-
ning in that constituency.
The number of seats that a party wins in this election then becomes proportional to the extent of its support among voters. Every person's vote is counted.
So, in a multi-member constituency, if we constitute a 10-member seat and the Awami League wins 50% of the votes, it will receive 5 of the 10 seats. If BNP wins 30% of the vote, it will get 3 seats. If the Jatiya Party gets 20% of the vote, it will win 2 seats. But if the fourth party does not reach the minimum threshold figure then it would be out of the race.
The Election Commission will only have to see that the size of the constituency is big enough to accommodate election of several members from the
constituency to the parliament.
The proportional system provides more accurate representation of political and ethnic minorities, fewer wasted votes, higher level of voter turnout, better representation of women, greater possibility of majority rule, etc.
There are three basic but different ways to calculate results from a proportional election. They are the party list, mixed member and single transferable vote (choice voting). Each of these calculations is well laid down and different countries adopt the calculation which suits its genius.
However, an easy way to calculate proportional representation, was shown by a Belgian mathematician, Victor D'hondt, way back in the midnineteenth century.
The D'hondt formula counts the total votes cast for each party in a multi-member constituency and then divides the number first by 1, then by 2, then 3, right up to the total number of seats that is allotted to that constituency. The distribution of votes to each candidate from a party is the number of votes cast for his/her party, divided by the candidate's rank within the party. The candidate with highest distribution figures stands elected.
In the next step, the party which wins the highest number of seats in the country forms the government. It could either be a majority, minority or a coalition, according to how voters spread their votes across few or many parties.
An important aspect of the proportional system of representation is that no single party in the country will be able to sweep the polls and establish a "tyranny of the majority." Several parties contest the polls and each party's voter support is taken into account while deciding parliamentary seats. This ensures that no one party can get overwhelming number of votes.
More than 88 countries around the world now use the proportional system of representation. This includes countries like Japan, Australia, Norway, Italy, Indonesia etc. But elections to the US Senate and the House still use the British "first past the post" system. So, elections to the House of Commons in the UK and to the Lok Sabha in India follow the old system.
Our prime minister and the leader of the opposition may give this proportional system some thought. Maybe this could be the way out of the political mess we are now entering. They may suggest improvements to the system as to how best it can serve our needs.
Proportional representation could indeed prove to be a game changer in Bangladesh.
The writer is a former ambassador and a regular commentator on contemporary issues.
E-mail: ashfaque 303@gmail.com