[EM] STV district magnitude

[James Gilmour]

Matt wrote:
> It is not true that 1/120 of the vote gets a seat. It is %1.5 minimum 
> (almost double 1/120). Also, surplus votes are redistributed 
> proportionality according to the size of the various parties, 
> with the 
> exception that parties can make public redistribution 
> agreements with each 
> other prior to the election.

Thank you for this update.  My source showed parties with less than 1.5%
of the votes getting seats.

Even so, with a threshold of 1.5%, it is one of the smallest, and it
does allow representation of parties with less support than is common in
most countries using party list PR (either by the operation of a de
facto district threshold or by an arbitrary threshold of 5%).

Small parties can, of course, lie any where along the political spectrum
(however that spectrum is defined in a particular country), but they
tend to be more frequent at the extremes of the political spectrum.

I stand by what I said about the adverse effects of giving
representation to so many small parties, as exemplified by the politics
of Israel.

James