Parties. Votes Seats Seats in
Obtained. Obtained. Proportion
to Votes.
Moderate 281,743 22 24
Liberal 142,639 12 12
Socialist 160,607 16 14
—————————————————-
584,989 50 50
In the election of the provincial council of Bleking the result was as follows:—
Parties. Votes Seats Seats in Obtained. Obtained. Proportion to Votes. ———————————— ———————————- Moderate 54,465 22 22.4 Liberal 36,595 10 15.1 Socialist 3,617 1 1.5 ————————————————— 94,677 39 39
The general fairness of these results is all the more remarkable, because in Stockholm there was a very considerable variation in the value of a vote in the different wards, whilst many of the constituencies in the province of Bleking returned only a few members, and these did not give full play to the proportional system. The figures confirm the experience of all other countries, that a proportional system, even when applied to comparatively small constituencies, yields results which approximate very closely to the ideal aimed at, the true representation of the electors.
[Footnote 1: The town councils were elected in one stage; each elector had one vote for every 100 kroner income, subject to a limit of 100 votes. The members of the town council, when electing members of the provincial councils, had only one vote each.]
[Footnote 2: A ballot paper is not declared invalid even if it contains the names of more candidates than there are members to be elected (except at the elections of parliamentary committees). The names in excess are regarded as suppléant candidates (see Election of Suppléants) to the number of two in the elections for the Riksdag and the town councils, and to a number equal to the number of members at the election for the provincial councils. Any additional names on a ballot paper are regarded as non-existent.]
[Footnote 3: This paper bore the signature of the elector.]
APPENDIX IV
THE FINLAND SYSTEM OF PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION
The influence of the Belgian system.