Proportional Representation in Most Robust Democracies
The following chart lists the different voting systems used by the world's 35 major, well-established democracies -- meaning countries with high human rights ratings and at least two million inhabitants. Proportional representation (PR) systems are by far the most common.
Of the six nations that don't use PR to elect representatives in their most powerful national legislative body, only three countries (US, Ghana, and Canada) don't use it for at least one of their national elections (PR is used in the upper house in Australia and European Parliament in UK and France).
THE LOWER/SINGLE HOUSE ELECTORAL SYSTEMS
OF THE WORLD'S MOST ROBUST DEMOCRACIES*: 2012
| COUNTRY | ELECTORAL SYSTEM |
| Australia | IRV |
| Austria | PR |
| Belgium | PR |
| Canada | Plurality |
| Chile | PR |
| Costa Rica | PR |
| Croatia | PR |
| Czech Republic | PR |
| Denmark | PR |
| Finland | PR |
| France | Runoff |
| Germany | MMPR |
| Ghana | Plurality |
| Hungary | MMPR |
| Ireland | STV |
| Israel | PR |
| Italy | PR |
| Japan | Parallel |
| Lithuania | Parallel |
| Netherlands | PR |
| New Zealand | MMPR |
| Norway | PR |
| Panama | PR |
| Poland | PR |
| Portugal | PR |
| Slovakia | PR |
| Slovenia | PR |
| South Korea | Parallel |
| Spain | PR |
| Sweden | PR |
| Switzerland | PR |
| Taiwan | Parallel |
| United Kingdom | Plurality |
| United States | Plurality |
| Uruguay | PR |
| Number with Plurality/Runoff | 5 of 35 |
*Countries with a population of at least 2 million with a 2012 Freedom House Average Freedom Score less than 2.
- PR: List Proportional Representation. Twenty-One Countries.
- Plurality. Four Countries.
- Parallel: Parallel use of List PR and Plurality. Four Countries.
- MMPR: Mixed Member PR. Three Countries.
- IRV: Instant Runoff Voting. One Country.
- STV: Single-Transferable Vote. One Country.
- Runoff. One Country.
Source: Mark Jones, Professor of Political Science at Rice University