Talk:Leveling seat
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The method is not unique for Norway. I am a Swede, and incidently know that it is used in Sweden, too, since 1970.
I suspect, but do not know, that it is used elsewhere, too. Now, here in en:wikipedia some people seem to try to separate theoretical models (which they classify within the Category:Voting systems or its subcategories) on the one hand, and actual implementations placed under Category:Electoral systems) on the other. I am not sure this be good or even tenable; but if it is to be upheld, one probably must distinguish more clearly between the method in itself, and its various applications.
The most closely related theoretic concept I found by browsing was the article Additional Member System. I provided cross-linking with that. However, that article seems to assume that the vote necessarily is split into two more or less independent votes, one for persons and one for parties. This is not quite the way the leveling seats system works in Scandinavia; at least not in Sweden. I personally suspect that the Additional Member System article is fairly influenced by some "actual details of implementation" in some other countries, and that this is the reason for this description. If so, that article needs a bit globalisation, before a merge with the "theoretical part" of thuis article is possible.
However, perhaps the Mixed member proportional representation is a better candidate. There seems to be some confusion whether or not these terms are synonymous, though. I'll add cross-links for this, too.-JoergenB 21:00, 2 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Allocation
Firstly, something that isn't made clear is whether the levelling seats are allocated in proportion to the share of the total vote, or in proportion to the difference between the share of the total vote and the share of the county seats. I assume the latter, since that would give the eponymous levelling effect, but this should be made clearer.
Secondly, although the method of working out how many levelling seats each party gets is described, there's nothing here about which seat each party gets. Since each levelling seat is associated with a county, this is at least formally significant. The fact that levelling seats are tied to counties is a bit weird, though, given that they're won based on nationwide totals. Am i missing something here?
-- Tom Anderson 2007-07-1719:51 +0100