Electoral system in which the share of seats held by a political party in the legislature closely matches the share of popular votes it received.
It was devised in Europe in the mid-19th century to guarantee minority groups more representation than was possible under the majority or plurality system s. Its supporters claim that it creates a more accurate reflection of public opinion; its opponents argue that by allowing more parties in a legislature, it may result in weaker, less stable governments. Two methods for apportioning seats are the single-transferable-vote method, under which voters rank candidates by preference, and the list system, under which voters select a party's list of candidates rather than individuals. Some countries (e.g., Germany and Russia) use a combination of plurality and proportional methods for allocating seats in the lower house of the national legislature. See also legislative apportionment .