|
Multi-Member Constituencies and Compensatory
Seats
Multi-member constituencies (article 1102, 1103,
1202, and 1302 in the PEC Rules and Regulations) and compensatory
mandates (article 1106 in the PEC Rules and Regulations) are a novelty
in the rules and regulations guiding elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Under the electoral system used in previous elections, politicians
elected to the BiH House of Representatives, Federation House of
Representatives, and Republika Srpska (RS) National Assembly were
elected from one of two constituencies, each covering one of the
two entities in BiH. As a result of the introduction of multi-member
constituencies, members of the BiH and Federation Houses of Representatives
and the RS National Assembly will represent distinct geographic
units covering every region in the country. The system will make
legislative bodies more representative geographically. Candidates
will run in local constituencies, and the voters will have a chance
to know their elected representatives and their record in office.
Multi-member constituencies coupled with the open list system maximize
the voters' potential to hold their representatives accountable.
The level of proportionality in the distribution
of seats when using multi-member constituencies is unpredictable.
There is a chance that some parties might not be awarded their proportional
share of seats, e.g. if they show strong support in elections across
their entity but never quite finish high enough in the individual
constituency to win a seat. Such a party would not receive its fair
share.
Therefore, the system of compensatory seats has
been added to the electoral design in BiH. Compensatory seats are
given to those parties that are underrepresented in Parliament according
to an entity-wide calculation of votes. Compensatory mandates serve
to compensate for insufficient proportionality that may derive
from adding up the results from the individual multi-member constituency
races.
First, multi-member constituency mandates are
determined. A voter may vote for an independent candidate or for
a party or coalition on each multi-member constituency ballot. Votes
are counted for each multi-member constituency, and mandates are
awarded to independent candidates, parties, and coalitions according
to votes won in each constituency and using a proportional representation
formula.
For compensatory mandates, first the total number
of votes cast for all political parties and coalitions across the
electorate (the entity) is calculated (see column II in the example
below). The proportional seat allocation formula is then applied
to the total number of seats being elected in the entity (constituency
and compensatory), using this total number of votes (column III
in the example). From the entity-wide number of mandates won by
each political party or coalition, the number of constituency mandates
already won in constituencies (column I in the example), is subtracted.
The resulting number is the number of compensatory seats to be awarded
to each political party or coalition (column IV in the example).
A compensatory mandate won by a political party
or coalition is allocated one by one to unelected candidates on
the political party or coalition's list of candidates for compensatory
mandates, beginning at the top of the list (compensatory mandate
lists are submitted by parties, if they choose to do so, before
elections), until all mandates are distributed. If the party or
coalition has not submitted such list, or if there are no more unelected
candidates on the list, the mandate is given to the list of the
same party or coalition in the constituency where the quotient that
has not been allocated a mandate for the same list is higher than
in any other constituency.
Example:
|
Party/Coalition
|
(I)Number of seats won in MMCs
|
(II)Number of votes won in the whole entity
|
(III)Total number of seats in the Entity
according to proportional distribution
|
(IV)Number of compensatory seats (III -
I)
|
| Party 1 |
3
|
15,000
|
15
|
12
|
| Coal. 2 |
20
|
25,000
|
25
|
5
|
| Party 3 |
37
|
40,000
|
40
|
3
|
| Party 4 |
15
|
20,000
|
20
|
5
|
| Total |
75
|
100,000
|
100
|
25
|
|
