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How did other countries get proportional representation?

 

One of the most common questions people ask is, “How did other countries get proportional representation?”

The political moment that opens the door to PR is unique in each country. The “how” PR happens done boils down to one thing:

Multi-party agreement.

In almost every country with proportional representation, parties were willing to negotiate, compromise and hammer out an agreement.

This does not mean every party agreed in every case. 

While proportional representation levels the playing field for everyone, it’s not going to be in the short-term self-interest of every party at the same moment. Although in many cases, parties across the political spectrum did agree, including those on the right).

See below for a chart of how OECD democracies adopted PR.

Fair Vote Canada encourages parties to start the conversation that could lead to a multi-party agreement with a National Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform.

For a more detailed assessment of voting system change over time in Western Europe and Anglo-American countries, including majoritarian systems, see this analysis by Associate Professor Dennis Pilon.

How democracies adopted proportional representation

How OECD democracies that use proportional representation adopted PR or subsequently revised their PR system

This table includes only countries use that use proportional representation currently and are rated as "free" democracies by Freedom House. This chart does not include countries with majoritarian or mostly majoritarian systems. See research by Dennis Pilon for an fuller analysis of Western European and Anglo-American countries and their electoral system transitions over time.

Austria
Belgium
Chile
Costa Rica
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
Germany
Iceland
Ireland
Israel
Latvia
Luxembourg
Netherlands
New Zealand
Northern Ireland
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Scotland
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Wales
PR first adopted by multi-party agreement
YES (1918)
YES (1919)
YES (2015)
YES (1918)
YES (1920)
YES (1989)
YES (1906)
YES (1918)
YES (1920)
YES (1922)
YES (1948)
YES (1918)
YES (1919)
YES (1917)
YES (1922)
YES (1919)
YES (1993)
YES (1976)
YES (1999)
YES (1993)
YES (2000)
YES (1977)
YES (1907)
YES (1999)
PR system revised by multi-party agreement
YES (1992)
YES (1993)
YES (1949, 2023)
YES (1934, 1942, 1959, 1987)
YES (1998)
YES (2001)
YES (1998)
YES (2023)
PR system imposed by one party without agreement of others
YES (1913)
PR by referendum
YES (1992)
YES (1918)
Extra notes
Belgium had previously adopted a semi-proportional voting system in 1899 by multi-party agreement.
Denmark had previously adopted a semi-proportional system in 1915 by multi-party agreement.
While PR was enacted by the British in 1920, the parties were in agreement. In 1937, they chose to put PR in the constitution by all-party agreement.
In 1922, PR was agreed upon by all parties as part of the Constitution of the Irish Free State. In 1929, PR was abolished by a single party who brought back first-past-the-post. In 1998, PR was agreed to by all parties as part of the Good Friday Peace Agreement.
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