The Spanish electoral system: Proportionality and governability

This paper briefly describes the formulation of the apportionment problem, the principal techniques involved in electoral methods and some d'Hondt and St. Lague properties. We then illustrate the high disproportionality of Sp ain's electoral system over seven general elections and its consequences fo r the major political parties. We propose to increase proportionality by me ans of a complementary second apportionment with minimal requirements. More over, to enhance governability, we propose to award a bonus percentage of s eats, similar to that afforded under the present system, to the winning par ty. The proposed technique for improving proportionality while maintaining the present advantage to the winning party can be applied in other democrat ic systems with low proportionality between total votes and total seats obt ained.