[Election-Methods] Partisan Politics

[Juho]

On May 14, 2008, at 17:26 , Fred Gohlke wrote:

> re: "If we assume that typically similar minded people elect  
> similar minded people in the groups of three, the method gives some  
> benefit to groups that are large and tightly bound ..."
>
> That's a fair assumption, except for the "and tightly bound"  
> clause. The atomized nature of the method (the initially large  
> number of very small, isolated and independent groups) suggests the  
> 'similar minded people' must be widely dispersed throughout the  
> electorate rather than tightly bound.

Ok.  With "tightly bound" I only wanted to say that groupings where  
one member trusts another member of the group and wants to support  
his/her election benefit of this property.  I would also have been  
more exact if I had said "large OR tightly bound".

The groups can also be hierarchical in the sense that e.g. left wing  
may consist of smaller groupings, Christians may consist of Catholics  
and Protestants etc.  All affiliations at any level may thus support  
other members of the groupings.

> In an earlier message, you mentioned the need to find a balance  
> between political and regional proportionality and I expressed the  
> opinion that the method was inherently proportional.  It struck me  
> you did not agree, or, more properly, that my response did not  
> satisfy the need that concerned you.

My comments may have been confusing.  When talking about  
proportionality I typically think of and mean political/ideological  
proportionality, and I typically use the full term "regional/ 
geographical proportionality" when I talk about regional/geographical  
proportionality.  Political proportionality is the one that people  
most often discuss since the election methods/systems typically  
provide regional proportional automatically (e.g. in the form of  
single seat districts and forcing all voters to vote at their home  
region, without asking about the opinion of the voter).

Juho




	
	
		
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