Issue: 2014/Vol.24/No.4, Pages 29-49
A MULTIFACETED ANALYSIS OF THE ELECTORAL SYSTEM OF THE REPUBLIC OF SURINAME
Imma Curiel
Cite as: I. Curiel. A multifaceted analysis of the electoral system of the Republic of Suriname. Operations Research and Decisions 2014: 24(4), 29-49. DOI 10.5277/ord140403
Abstract
The electoral system of Suriname has been analyzed. Suriname has a unicameral parliament, the National Assembly. The 51 seats of the National Assembly are distributed among 10 districts. There are large discrepancies between the numbers of voters represented by a seat in the various districts. Apportionment methods leading to different seat distributions are explored and compared with each other and with the current one. The comparison is done with respect to the number of voters represented by a seat, the mean majority deficit and the probability that a majority deficit will occur, the influence of a voter in a particular district using the Banzhaf power index, and the influence of a political party relative to the percentage of the popular vote that the party obtained. The method of equal proportions turns out to yield the best results in general.
Keywords: National Assembly of Suriname, apportionment method, majority deficit, Banzhaf power index
Received: 25 August 2014 Accepted: 4 November 2014