proportional representation
nounDefinition of proportional representation
: an electoral system in which the number of seats held by a political group or party in a legislative body is determined by the number of popular votes received
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Systems with elements of proportional representation, such as that sought by reformers of the electoral college or House districts, not only provide bulwarks against charges of illegitimacy. — The Economist, "America’s electoral system gives the Republicans advantages over Democrats," 12 July 2018 The new law mandates proportional representation for 15 districts — down from the previous 22 — while allowing the thousands of Lebanese living abroad to vote for the first time. — Nabih Bulos, latimes.com, "Amid warnings about vote buying, Lebanon holds first parliamentary elections in nearly a decade," 4 May 2018 The bars are a proportional representation of how far below state averages these districts scored in each year. — Patrick O'donnell, cleveland.com, "Has the Cleveland Plan for school improvement stalled? Maybe not, but test scores have," 15 Apr. 2018 Efforts to ensure that all communities (geographically as well as by race/ethnicity) will have proportional representation on leadership bodies are also critical. — Valerie Strauss, Washington Post, "Back to the future: A new school district secession movement is gaining steam," 2 May 2018 This year’s vote is according to a new election law that is based on proportional representation. — Washington Post, "Lebanon holds first elections in 9 years," 6 May 2018 That law was replaced this year with one awarding seats by proportional representation, but other complications worked to keep outsiders from taking a larger share. — Washington Post, "Outsiders in Lebanon politics make a small win look big," 7 May 2018 That law was replaced this year with one awarding seats by proportional representation, but complications to the law worked to keep outsiders from taking a larger share. — Philip Issa, Fox News, "Outsiders in Lebanon politics make a small win look big," 7 May 2018 This year’s vote was according to a new election law providing for proportional representation for the first time. — Washington Post, BostonGlobe.com, "Lebanon votes, but few have hopes for change," 7 May 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'proportional representation.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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