Poland uses a proportional representation system for its elections.
Like most, the country is broken down into separate districts. This provides local representation, same as our MPs provide in Canada. The districts in Poland are on the average about the same size in area as our 34 ridings that serve our 4.4 million Albertans.
But instead Poland's 41 districts serve 40 million people.
The country is divided into 41 districts, each electing between 7 and 19 representatives. Each district contains on average about a million people.
There are more than 400 MPs in Poland, creating about the same ratio per voters as Canada, which is 1 MP per 100,000 voters.
Thus something with the population of Edmonton would have one district, and 10 seats.
The large number of representatives per district provides a fine grade of representation. With say 14 seats, each 7 percent of the voters in a district may elect a representative, whether it is scattered across a city or concentrated in just one section.
As might be expected, each district elects a mixture of representatives belonging to many different parties, reflecting the diversity of opinion held by the voters, in proportion to the vote shares.
That is proportional representation.
Thanks for reading.
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