In order to reach proportional representation, the Belgian Constitutional Court ordered a redistricting so that every electoral district has at least 4 seats. Three districts with 2 or 3 seats were deemed too small to have genuine proportionality. (The case affected the Walloon regional parliament)
Are there similar court-imposed magnitude constrains in other countries using proportional representation?
http://www.const-court.be/public/f/2015/2015-169f.pdf
Hi Steven,
Here is a View from Germany (alas it is not very helpful)
We have a Federal System out of 16 Federal states ( NB I am from Bremen which is the smallest state next to Hamburg and Berlin; the biggest are Bavaria and Lower-Saxony)....
But our constitutional court does not have a Federal or regional component...
In our political System We have 16 Federal or local governments which Form the so called Bundesrat (In legislation it works together with the overall Parliament when laws are written).
But our Federal courts are simply consisting out of elected Federal judges (and for their election the political orientation or even Party membership is crucial)....
Best wishes...
For information about the constitutional courts that are similar to Belgium (bilingual with at least two ethnics) you will most likely look towards Canada and states in Africa...
Best wishes
Carsten
I was looking for a constitutional court ordering a change in the electoral system because the district magnitude was deemed too low (too few seats per district) for a proportional electoral system.
Possible candidates are:
- DE: Bundesverfassungsgericht, 11.10.1972, BVerfGE 34, 81 (Landtagswahl Rheinland-Pfalz)
- CH: Bundesgericht, 12.02.2014, BGE 140 I 107 (Wahlkreiseinteilung Wallis)
- CZ: Constitutional Court, 24.01.2001, Pl. ÚS 42/2000 (‘Elections Act’) http://www.usoud.cz/en/decisions/20010124-pl-us-4200-elections-act-1/ .
But are there similar cases known in other countries?
I would like to suggest you the Italian Constitutional Court’s decision on our electoral system. Hoping it would be useful
http://www.cortecostituzionale.it/documenti/download/doc/recent_judgments/1-2014_en.pdf
The Czech Constitutional Court rule out in 2001 that the proposed electoral reform was against the principle of proportionality. The decision of the court was not just about the electoral districts (M = 4-8), howevert, it assessed the reform in its complex effects including the change of electoral formula to a modified d`Hondt (1.42; 2, ; 3...). The court did not set a minimum magnitude of the electoral district, "just" abolished the reform.
Hi Steven,
For France, there is no minimum district magnitude for sake of proportionality required by the Constitutional Council.
Even there is no proportional system, proportionalality could be required for the apportionment (not only for districting).
Best wishes,
In Iraq, as federal State, legally, the composition of the Federal Supreme Court is not based on the principle of proportional representation for regions as it's the case for federated entities in Belgium, Suisse and Canada -the case of Quebec,
I think the proportional representation of federated entities in Federal Supreme Court in federal States, is a perfect guarantee to protect their constitutional rights and competencies
Best wishes
You are most likely to find something like that in a PR electoral system - but not one with the whole country as a single constituency, of course.
Aparently, "In 2002 the Swiss Federal Court ruled that the constitutional right of all citizens to a system of proportional representation is indeed violated if the constituencies are so small that there are too few seats to allow proportionality. " This is from somethng I found on the web - I attach it and leave it to you to follow up to find the case.
There have been cases in Irland - where they have the single transferable vote PR system. I attach another piece on that.
But it is an issue in single-member constituency systems, of course. In the US, districting (for their first past the post) system is rigid in terms of size. There are several Supme Court cases on district boudaries and gerry-mandering.
Some constitutions have somethng to say about aiming at electoral fairness. The Kenyan Constitution does - but a pretty weak provision. Article 89(5):
The boundaries of each constituency shall be such that the number of inhabitants in the constituency is, as nearly as possible, equal to the population quota, but the number of inhabitants of a constituency may be greater or lesser than the population quota in the manner specified in clause (6) to take account of—
(a) geographical features and urban centres;
(b) community of interest, historical, economic and cultural ties; and
(c) means of communication.
(3) The number of inhabitants of a constituency or ward may be greater or lesser than the population quota by a margin of not more than—
(a) forty per cent for cities and sparsely populated areas; and
(b) thirty per cent for the other areas.
There is potential for a constitutional challenge to constituency size.
Dear, Constitutional framework in India do not provide any kind of proportional representation in Constitutional Courts
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