Whats the big deal about Proportional Representation?
The additional complexity of this method pays off well: 93 percent of votes counted toward a winner. This is so high that a majority of votes on the council (5) can be fairly described as a mandate from a majority of voters. Preferential voting methods are the only ones presented here that can routinely and genuinely satisfy the majority principle. Power on the council is distributed very fairly: six candidates were elected with exactly the same number of votes. The remaining three received an extra 5-15 percent from an eliminated candidate. This method is as close as they get to truly proportional representation.
