An election apportionment diagram is the graphic representation of election results and the seats in a plenary or legislative body. The chart can also be used to represent data in easy to understand terms, for example by grouping allied parties together.
Votes in an election are often represented using bar charts or pie charts, often labeled with the corresponding percentage or number of votes. [1] The apportionment of seats between the parties in a legislative body has a defined set of rules, unique to each body. As an example, the Senate of Virginia says,
The Clerk of the Senate, after the election of Senators, shall assign desks to the individual Senators with the Senators elected as members of the majority party in the Senate in the chamber area beginning at the north side of the chamber until all such desks have been assigned, and then the Senators elected as members of the minority party in the Senate, and then any Senator not elected as a member of the two major political parties. [2]
Instead of using a bar or pie chart, the apportionment of seats between the parties in a legislative body such as a parliament can be represented more clearly by displaying the individual representatives of each party as dots in a pattern, because the number of representatives is also significant, and is easily understood visually. The dots are typically coded according to the political color of the respective parties. [3] This was traditionally presented as a seating chart of a plenary hall, but can also be represented in a more abstract fashion which more loosely corresponds to the seating arrangement in a legislature, for example a form of half-donut chart as an abstract representation of a hemicycle, or a stylized representation of the Westminster Parliament, showing government, opposition, speaker and crossbenchers. In Germany, the order of the bars usually corresponds from left to right to the placement of the parties in the previous election and is thus based on the order given on the ballot, which is regulated in Section 30 of the Federal Electoral Act . [4]
These charts can also be used to represent data in easy to understand terms. [5] An example of this is politicians’ responses to the Orlando shootings. [6]
The Bundestag is the German federal parliament and the lower of two federal chambers, opposed to the upper chamber, the Bundesrat. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people, comparable to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom or the United States House of Representatives. The Bundestag was established by Title III of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany in 1949 as one of the legislative bodies of Germany and thus it is the historical successor to the earlier Reichstag.
The House of Commons of Canada is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada.
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members often have a different title. The terms congressman/congresswoman or deputy are equivalent terms used in other jurisdictions. The term parliamentarian is also sometimes used for members of parliament, but this may also be used to refer to unelected government officials with specific roles in a parliament and other expert advisers on parliamentary procedure such as the Senate parliamentarian in the United States. The term is also used to the characteristic of performing the duties of a member of a legislature, for example: "The two party leaders often disagreed on issues, but both were excellent parliamentarians and cooperated to get many good things done."
The Australian Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives.
Bicameralism is a type of legislature that is divided into two separate assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate and vote as a single group. As of 2022, roughly 40% of the world's national legislatures are bicameral, while unicameralism represents 60% nationally and much more at the subnational level.
The German Bundesrat is a legislative body that represents the sixteen Länder of Germany at the federal level. The Bundesrat meets at the former Prussian House of Lords in Berlin. Its second seat is located in the former West German capital of Bonn.
The Congress of the Philippines is the legislature of the national government of the Philippines. It is bicameral, composed of an upper body, the Senate, and a lower body, the House of Representatives, although colloquially, the term "Congress" commonly refers to just the latter. The Senate meets at the GSIS Building in Pasay, while the House of Representatives meets at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City, which also hosts joint sessions.
The Congress of Deputies is the lower house of the Cortes Generales, Spain's legislative branch, the upper house being the Senate. The Congress meets in the Palace of the Parliament in Madrid.
In the Parliament of Australia, a casual vacancy arises when a member of either the Senate or the House of Representatives:
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, electorate, or (election) precinct, is a subdivision of a larger state created to provide its population with representation in the larger state's constituency. That body, or the state's constitution or a body established for that purpose, determines each district's boundaries and whether each will be represented by a single member or multiple members. Generally, only voters (constituents) who reside within the district are permitted to vote in an election held there. District representatives may be elected by a first-past-the-post system, a proportional representative system, or another voting method. They may be selected by a direct election under universal suffrage, an indirect election, or another form of suffrage.
A pie chart is a circular statistical graphic which is divided into slices to illustrate numerical proportion. In a pie chart, the arc length of each slice is proportional to the quantity it represents. While it is named for its resemblance to a pie which has been sliced, there are variations on the way it can be presented. The earliest known pie chart is generally credited to William Playfair's Statistical Breviary of 1801.
The election of MEPs representing Germany constituency for the 2004–2009 term of the European Parliament was held on 13 June 2004.
Elections in Australia take place periodically to elect the legislature of the Commonwealth of Australia, as well as for each Australian state and territory and for local government councils. Elections in all jurisdictions follow similar principles, although there are minor variations between them. The elections for the Australian Parliament are held under the federal electoral system, which is uniform throughout the country, and the elections for state and territory Parliaments are held under the electoral system of each state and territory.
The Senate is one of the two chambers of the bicameral Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Chamber of Representatives. It is considered to be the "upper house" of the Federal Parliament. Created in 1831 as a chamber fully equal to the Chamber of Representatives, it has undergone several reforms in the past, most notably in 1993 and 2014. The 2014 elections were the first without a direct election of senators. Instead, the new Senate is composed of members of community and regional parliaments and co-opted members. It is a chamber of the communities and regions and serves as a platform for discussion and reflection about matters between these federated entities. The Senate today plays a minor role in the federal legislative process. However, the Senate, together with the Chamber, has full competence for the Constitution and legislation on the organization and functioning of the Federal State and the federated entities. Since the reform of 2014, it holds about ten plenary sessions a year.
Apportionment is the process by which seats in a legislative body are distributed among administrative divisions, such as states or parties, entitled to representation. This page presents the general principles and issues related to apportionment. The page apportionment by country describes the specific practices used around the world. The page Mathematics of apportionment describes mathematical formulations and properties of apportionment rules.
At large is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population, rather than a subset. In multi-hierarchical bodies, the term rarely extends to a tier beneath the highest division. A contrast is implied, with certain electoral districts or narrower divisions. It can be given to the associated territory, if any, to denote its undivided nature, in a specific context. Unambiguous synonyms are the prefixes of cross-, all- or whole-, such as cross-membership, or all-state.
The Hamburg Parliament is the unicameral legislature of the German state of Hamburg according to the constitution of Hamburg. As of 2020 there are 123 sitting members, representing 17 electoral districts. The parliament is situated in the city hall Hamburg Rathaus and is part of the Government of Hamburg.
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress. The United States Senate and the lower chamber of Congress, the United States House of Representatives, comprise the federal bicameral legislature of the United States. Together, the Senate and the House maintain authority under Article One of the U.S. Constitution to pass or defeat federal legislation. The Senate has exclusive power to confirm U.S. presidential appointments, approve or reject treaties, and try cases of impeachment brought by the House. The Senate and the House provide a check and balance on the powers of the executive and judicial branches of government.
A seating plan is a diagram or a set of written or spoken instructions that determines where people should take their seats. It is widely used on diverse occasions. Seating plans have a wide range of purposes.
Apportionment by country describes the practices used in various democratic countries around the world for partitioning seats in the parliament among districts or parties. See apportionment (politics) for the general principles and issues related to apportionment.
Media related to Election apportionment diagrams at Wikimedia Commons