[EL] Gerrymandering in other countries

[Soren Dayton]

India has had only one redistricting ("delimitation") since 1971 and, by
constitutional amendment, can't redraw maps until 2025.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delimitation_Commission_of_India

Size of districts vary by a factor of 60.

When combined with pro-rural biases in administration, cities are massively
under-represented.

On Wed, Oct 25, 2017 at 2:24 PM David Lublin <dlublin at american.edu> wrote:

> Hi Ed,
>
> Not to advertise but I have chapter in my book, *Minority Rules*, on
> gerrymandering and minorities/ethnic parties around the world. I don't know
> whether you intend to include malapportionment or not but here are a few
> cases in both SMD and PR systems:
>
> Canada has had malapportionment that tends to benefit smaller provinces,
> or most except Ontario, Alberta and possibly BC. Harper's change to the
> distribution rules made things much fairer. However, smaller provinces are
> still somewhat overrepresented. Rural areas are overrepresented in most
> provinces with vast seats in the northern part tending to have far fewer
> people, which may help indigenous peoples.
>
> Australia has similar malapportionment within some states (I think,
> Western Australia) but I'd double check, though not at the federal level.
> Both Canada and Australia do not have gerrymandering in the sense of direct
> manipulation of district lines.
>
> Singapore has two types of gerrymandering. First, they are very careful to
> arrange where people live--the government controls most housing--to avoid
> too high concentrations of Malay/Indian minorities anywhere. Second, after
> each election, the government rearranges the lines to dismember opposition
> seats or weaken them. Not a free democracy, however.
>
>
> Quite a few countries with PR engage in intentional malapportionment. I
> don't know if you mean to include these cases:
>
> In Spain, there is a bias toward rural areas in the central government as
> well as in many autonomous communities. At the national level, each
> province gets 2 seats (more complex rules for the Canaries and the
> Ceuta/Melilla get on apiece) and the remaining are distributed without
> regard to the first two, so provinces with large cities, like Madrid and
> Barcelona in particular, are underrepresented.
>
> In Catalonia, the non-Barcelona provinces are overrepresented in the
> legislature. This aids nationalist parties and created a wrong-winner
> situation once. If they hold elections now, it is possible to get a
> separatist majority in the legislature without majority support. In the
> last elections, they fell just short of a majority but gained a majority
> (Junts pel Si + CUP).
>
> In the Basque Country, each province has an equal number of seats, which
> works against the Basque nationalists, as this severely overrepresents
> Alava as the expense of the other two.
>
> In Brazil, the military regime's creation of new states and the minimum
> number of seats for each of the states, and the maximum placed on Sao
> Paulo, was seen as intentional to benefit the right. I think something
> similar may have occurred in terms of raising the minimum number of seats
> per province in Argentina.
>
> Malapportionment used to be a problem in the UK but has been mostly
> eliminated. Before the Troubles, the NI Parliament was gerrymandered
> against the Catholic Nationalists and for the Protestant Unionists.
>
> Hope this helps,
> David
>
>
>
> On Wed, Oct 25, 2017 at 1:55 PM, Edward Still <still at votelaw.com> wrote:
>
>> A friend asked me "wondering about gerrymandering  -- is it a
>> significant problem in other countries, particularly western democracies?"
>>
>> Anyone have a good answer to this?
>>
>>
>> Edward Still
>> Edward Still Law Firm LLC
>> 429 Green Springs Hwy, STE 161-304
>> Birmingham AL 35209
>> 205-320-2882 <(205)%20320-2882>
>> still at votelaw.com
>> www.linkedin.com/in/edwardstill
>> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.linkedin.com_edwardstill&d=DwMFaQ&c=U0G0XJAMhEk_X0GAGzCL7Q&r=2fMgMunsCtJpikIZXRvVAXXnXpXnW1DdeOa9_DBJVAg&m=sLsJDwx1IqLPKpzDp0RL3m-VD6CsnAJFkYrU-a1Lv8A&s=78O_RUXBCmrbkheeMCAIBsbSHl0YQeWnEAjkSm0nUVI&e=>
>> Twitter: @edwardstill
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> David Lublin
> Professor of Government
> School of Public Affairs
> American University
> 4400 Massachusetts Ave.
> Washington, D.C. 20016
> http://davidlublin.com/
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