Calculation of the distribution of deputies according to the D’Hondt system! Critical analysis from Hakan Bayrakçı

As the presidential and parliamentary elections on 14 May approached, the calculations started to take shape according to the new system. After the proposal to calculate the parliamentary calculations with the D’Hondt system in the election system, the calculation examples of the D’Hondt system became a matter of curiosity.

Public Opinion Researcher Hakan Bayrakçı shared important information about the D’Hondt system in the Neutral Zone program presented by Ahmet Hakan, broadcast on CNN TÜRK.

One of the issues that came up with the election law was the D’Hondt system, which was planned to be used in parliamentary calculations. So, how are calculations made according to this system and how does the system work?

WHAT IS THE D’HONDT SYSTEM AND WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

The D’Hondt system is a proportional representation system designed by the Belgian jurist and mathematician Victor D’Hondt in 1878. In Turkey, the d’Hondt system has been applied in all parliamentary general and by-elections since 1961, except for the 1965 National Assembly general election and the 1966 National Assembly by-election; This is the system still in effect today.

Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, East Timor, Ecuador, Finland, Wales, Croatia, Scotland, Israel, Iceland, Japan, Colombia, Hungary, Macedonia, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Chile, It is the election method applied in the TRNC and Turkey.

D’HONDT SYSTEM CALCULATION EXAMPLES

The sum of votes received by each party in an electoral district is divided by 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively, and this process is continued until the number of deputies to be elected by that electoral district is reached. The obtained shares are ordered from the largest to the smallest, regardless of the lot. Parliamentary seats are allocated to the parties according to this order.

For example, in 2018, a city with 340 thousand valid votes elected 5 deputies without the distribution of foreign voters. Party A won 4 deputies with 186 thousand votes, while Party B won 1 deputy with 35 thousand votes. However, in this province, the C Party could not elect a deputy despite 46,713 votes. Since the total votes of the B Party alliance together with the D Party exceeded 70,000, this total vote was taken into account. In the new system, after the first three seats are given to the A Party with the same number of votes, the fourth seat will pass to the C Party. Party B will also take the fifth seat. In this election, there were three other parties competing in the ballot box, and their votes of 33 thousand, 6,000 and 5,000 were not taken into account. D Party, on the other hand, could not elect a deputy with 25 thousand votes, but alliance partner B Party won. The clustering of these votes on May 14 will be much more important in the parliamentary account. Bloc support of low-voted parties will be able to provide additional gains to the first-ranked parties. Small vote differences will have critical results in the distribution of seats in many election districts with similar scales such as Osmaniye, Niğde and Trabzon.