[EM] Israeli election results posted with vote totals and percentages

[Kristofer Munsterhjelm]

On 01/24/2013 01:08 PM, Ross Hyman wrote:
>
>           http://www.knesset.gov.il/elections19/eng/list/results_eng.aspx
>
>
>           The official Israeli election results show that of the parties
>           receiving more than the 2% threshold needed to get into the
>           Knesset, the center-left parties actually got a higher
>           percentage of the vote, 46.67%, than the right parties,
>           46.25%. Yet the center-left parties will get 59 seats and the
>           right parties 61 seats.

Israel uses what is basically D'Hondt (but with a negotiation system 
where parties can pair up; such a agreement gives the larger party an 
extra seat if the surpluses for the two add up to another seat).

Though I don't know which parties are center-left and which parties are 
right in Israel, I imagine using Sainte-Laguë would give a fairer 
distribution. I would also suggest not having the whole nation as one 
big district. If accuracy is really important, it's possible to have 
both that and multi-districts with something like the leveling seats system.

According to Wikipedia (and my Sainte-Laguë calculator), the actual (and 
Sainte-Laguë) results are/would have been:

Party name               Votes   Seats    Sainte-Laguë

Likud                   884631      31              30
Yesh Atid               543280      19              18
Labor                   432083      15              15
The Jewish Home         345935      12              12
Shas                    331800      11              11
United Torah Judaism    196038       7               7
Hatnuah                 189168       6               6
Meretz                  172382       6               6
United Arab List        138362       4               5
Hadash                  113610       4               4
Balad                    96926       3               3
Kadima                   79487       2               3

The differences are that Likud and Yesh Atid would get a seat less each, 
and UAL and Kadima would get one more each.