[EM] Need for proportional representation

[Markus Schulze]

Dear Demorep,

you wrote (2 Oct 1999):
> Mr. Schulze wrote in part-
> I haven't yet understood how you circumvent the Banzhaf Paradox?
> [For those who don't know what Proxy Voting is: The Banzhaf Paradox says
> that -if the members of a committee have different numbers of votes- then
> the real voting power of a committee member can differ extremely from his
> nominal voting power.
> Example: A has 37 votes, B has 30 votes, C has 21 votes, D has 12 votes.
> Then A, B, and C have the same voting power because every proposal needs
> the approval of only two of them. D has no voting power.]
> ---
> D-  Legislator D will be part of the majority or a part of the minority in 
> voting on any issue.   The Banzhaf Paradox is totally irrelevant.  
> In larger legislative bodies, smaller voting power factions may or may not
> be the balance of power.  The main purpose of p.r. is obviously to get
> both indirect majority rule and minority representation.

Consider the following example: Member A has 45 votes, member B has 40
votes, and member C has 15 votes. Don't you think that the voters of A and B
rather want their votes to be transferred (so that they can influence who is
the third member of this committee) than to increase the nominal voting
power without increasing the real voting power of A resp. B?

Markus Schulze