In representative electoral systems, gerrymandering is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent to create undue advantage for a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. The manipulation may involve "cracking" or "packing". Gerrymandering can also be used to protect incumbents. Wayne Dawkins, a professor at Morgan State University, describes it as politicians picking their voters instead of voters picking their politicians.
Proportional representation (PR) refers to any type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions among voters. The essence of such systems is that all votes cast – or almost all votes cast – contribute to the result and are effectively used to help elect someone – not just a bare plurality or (exclusively) the majority – and that the system produces mixed, balanced representation reflecting how votes are cast.
The electoral threshold, or election threshold, is the minimum share of all the votes cast that a candidate or political party requires to achieve before they become entitled to representation or additional seats in a legislature. This limit can operate in various ways, e.g. in party-list proportional representation systems where an electoral threshold requires that a party must receive a specified minimum percentage of votes, either nationally or in a particular electoral district, to obtain seats in the legislature. In single transferable voting, the election threshold is called the quota and it is possible to pass it by use of first choice votes alone or by a combination of first choice votes and votes transferred from other candidates based on lower preferences. In mixed-member-proportional (MMP) systems the election threshold determines which parties are eligible for top-up seats in the legislative body.
The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is an apportionment method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in proportional representation among political parties. It belongs to the class of highest-averages methods. The D'Hondt method reduces compared to ideal proportional representation somewhat the political fragmentation for smaller electoral district sizes, where it favors larger political parties over small parties.
Elections in Hungary are held at two levels: general elections to elect the members of the National Assembly and local elections to elect local authorities. European Parliament elections are also held every 5 years.
South West Surrey is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. Since 2005, the seat has been represented by Conservative MP Jeremy Hunt, the current chancellor of the Exchequer and the former Culture Secretary, Health Secretary and Foreign Secretary.
East Surrey is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Claire Coutinho, a Conservative serving as Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. The seat covers an affluent area in the English county of Surrey.
A group voting ticket (GVT) is a shortcut for voters in a preferential voting system, where a voter can indicate support for a list of candidates instead of marking preferences for individual candidates. For multi-member electoral divisions with single transferable voting, a group or party registers a GVT before an election with the electoral commission. When a voter selects a group or party above the line on a ballot paper, their vote is distributed according to the registered GVT for that group.
North East Somerset is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament, since it was created for the 2010 general election, by Jacob Rees-Mogg of the Conservative Party.
An electorate or electoral district is a geographic constituency used for electing a member (MP) to the New Zealand Parliament. The size of electorates is determined such that all electorates have approximately the same population.
Thornbury and Yate is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since the 2015 election by Luke Hall, a member of the Conservative Party. Encompassing an area to the north-east of Bristol, it is one of three constituencies that make up the South Gloucestershire Unitary Authority Area, along with Filton and Bradley Stoke and Kingswood.
Forest of Dean District Council is the local authority for the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England. The council is elected every four years. Since the last boundary changes in 2019, 38 councillors are elected from 21 wards.
The second Guildford Borough Council full-council elections were held on 6 May 1976. The Conservatives retained control of the council with an increased majority, winning 35 of the 45 seats.
The 2013 elections to Shropshire Council were held on 2 May 2013 as part of the 2013 United Kingdom local elections. These were the second elections to the unitary authority created as part of local government restructuring in Shropshire, following on from the previous elections in 2009. All 74 seats in the 63 electoral divisions were up for election across Shropshire. At the same time, all town and parish council contested elections took place, most notably including Shrewsbury Town Council.
The Surrey County Council election, 2013 took place on 2 May 2013 as part of the 2013 United Kingdom local elections. 81 electoral divisions returned one county councillor each by first-past-the-post voting for a four-year term of office. Following a review, new electoral division boundaries were introduced for this election, increasing the number of councillors from 80 to 81.
Elections to Gloucestershire County Council took place on 2 May 2013 as part of the 2013 United Kingdom local elections. 53 electoral divisions elected one county councillor each by first-past-the-post voting for a four-year term of office. No elections were held in South Gloucestershire, which is a unitary authority outside the area covered by the County Council.
The Yorkshire Party is a regionalist political party in Yorkshire, a historic county of England. The party, which was founded in 2014, campaigns for the establishment of a devolved Yorkshire Parliament within the United Kingdom, with powers over education, environment, transportation and housing.
The electoral system of Turkey varies for general, presidential and local elections that take place in Turkey every five years. Turkey has been a multi-party democracy since 1950, with the first democratic election held on 14 May 1950 leading to the end of the single-party rule established in 1923. The current electoral system for electing Members of Parliament to the Grand National Assembly has a 7% election threshold.
The 2019 United Kingdom local elections took place on Thursday 2 May 2019, with 248 English local councils, six directly elected mayors in England, and all 11 local councils in Northern Ireland being contested.
