[EM] VoteFair software negotiation tool, works for filling cabinet positions

[Richard Fobes]

On 9/4/2012 2:15 PM, Kristofer Munsterhjelm wrote:
> Here's a system I thought about some days ago. ...

On 9/5/2012 3:22 AM, Raph Frank wrote:
 > In Northern Ireland, they have a mandatory coalition system.
 > Basically, the leader of the largest party becomes First Minister and
 > leader of the largest party from the other community becomes deputy
 > First Minister.  The remaining seats at cabinet are then divided using
 > the d'Hondt method between the parties.  ...

For something similar/related that I created some years ago, please take 
a look at the "VoteFair negotiation tool" at www.NegotiationTool.com and 
in particular please look at "Demo 2":

   http://www.negotiationtool.com/cabinetministers.html

It uses VoteFair ranking with additional capabilities that, for example, 
allow parliament members to elect a group of cabinet members in a way 
that is quite fair.

The main two added features:

* When a group of voters fails to get their top preference implemented 
for a few seats ("proposals"), they -- if they are numerous enough -- 
get to fill a seat.

* Voters, or an impartial administrator, specify which proposals are 
incompatible with which other proposals -- such as the same person not 
being allowed to fill two different cabinet seats.

These features are in addition to the ability of the underlying VoteFair 
representation ranking to give fair representation to a large minority. 
  This means that a "51%" does not outvote a "49%", except in the case 
of choosing the first proposal, which in this example is filling the 
Prime Minister position.

All of this is done without identifying party affiliations (of either 
the voters or the candidates).  This means that it handles a 
non-gaussian distribution, and even a multidimensional distribution.

As the name implies, it's a software negotiation tool that has many 
other applications besides filling elected positions.

Questions?  Please ask.

Richard Fobes