Mixed-member proportional representation

Mixed-member proportional representation (often referred to as "MMP") is an electoral system used in some countries, most famously Germany and New Zealand. It is often thought of as a proportional representation system.  In the United Kingdom, MMP is often referred to as the "additional member system" (or "AMS").  It is used to select the German Bundestag in Germany and is used in parliaments and other elections in various English-speaking countries.

MMP systems attempt to achieve both a proportional representation and a majority support, by asking voters to vote for a specific representative, and vote for a political party.  Some of the representatives are elected from electoral lists drawn up by the respective parties. The number of representatives who are considered elected on the respective lists of the parties and are thus allowed to move into parliament is determined according to the proportion of votes that the parties were able to unite.

Another part of the representation is directly elected through constituencies in which candidates stand for election. For this purpose, the country is divided into a number of administrative divisions, in which usually only one candidate can be elected at a time. Whichever candidate was able to collect the most votes is elected.  The Federal Republic of Germany was the first country in which such an electoral system was introduced in 1949, in the elections to the German Bundestag. New Zealand first used mixed-member proportional in its 1993 election.

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Category:Voting systems