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Degressive proportionality is an electoral weighting formula where the members of a decision-making body are elected from sub bodies in a way somewhere in-between proportional representation and equal representation (for potentially differently sized) sub-bodies.

In equal representation, the vote of each sub-body has the same weight. In proportional representation, the weights of the votes are proportional to the sub-body’s population sizes. In between these extremes, the weights increase as a function of population sizes, but smaller sub-bodies receive greater weights and larger sub-bodies receive lesser weights than proportionality would warrant. Such weightings are called degressively proportional weightings.

Contents 1 European parliament 2 Minimum seats 3 Advantages 4 Disadvantages 5 Methods for allocating weights

[edit] European parliament

Under the Treaty of Lisbon, the European Parliament is to use a system of degressive proportionality to allocate its 750 seats among the member states of the European Union. Treaty negotiations, rather than a specific formula, determine the apportionment between member states.

[edit] Minimum seats

Any system that reserves a minimum number seats for a sub-body is to some extent degressively proportional. The most famous example is perhaps the election of the US presidential Electoral College. As each state has a minimum of 3 members of the college, smaller states such as Wyoming and Vermont effectively have disproportionally more say in the election than larger states, the extreme being California.

[edit] Advantages

• Protection against cartels

[edit] Disadvantages

• Lack of proportionality

[edit] Methods for allocating weights

• Square root of the population
• Minimums and maximums

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