''Scorporo'' (, ) is a
partially compensatory,
mixed-member majoritarian electoral system
An electoral or voting system is a set of rules used to determine the results of an election. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political elections may take place in business, nonprofit organizations and inf ...
, sometimes referred to as a negative vote transfer system (NVT) whereby a portion of members are elected in
single-member district
A single-member district or constituency is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders.
In some countries, such as Australia and India ...
s (SMDs) and a portion are elected from a
list
A list is a Set (mathematics), set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of t ...
. It may be fully defined as a
parallel voting
In political science, parallel voting or superposition refers to the use of two or more Electoral system, electoral systems to elect different members of a legislature. More precisely, an electoral system is a superposition if it is a mixture o ...
system which excludes a portion (up to 100%) of the SMD winners' votes in electing the proportional tier, to result in a more
proportional outcome. The exclusion of a portion of the SMD winners' votes is what makes scorporo fundamentally different from
parallel voting
In political science, parallel voting or superposition refers to the use of two or more Electoral system, electoral systems to elect different members of a legislature. More precisely, an electoral system is a superposition if it is a mixture o ...
and somewhat closer to the
additional member system
The additional-member system (AMS) is a two-vote seat-linkage-based mixed electoral system used in the United Kingdom in which most legislator, representatives are elected in single-member districts (SMDs), and a fixed number of other "addition ...
in the UK (a form of
mixed-member proportional representation
Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP or MMPR) is a type of representation provided by some mixed electoral system, mixed electoral systems which combine local Winner-take-all system, winner-take-all elections with a Compensation (el ...
) in theory. However, the design proved particularly susceptible to the
decoy list
Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP or MMPR) is a type of representation provided by some mixed electoral systems which combine local winner-take-all elections with a compensatory tier with party lists, in a way that produces pr ...
strategy, and as a result by 2001 had devolved into a ''de facto'' parallel voting system. The scorporo method is only known to have been used in Italy, but a similar version is in used for the
National Assembly of Hungary
The National Assembly ( ) is the parliament of Hungary. The unicameral body consists of 199 (386 between 1990 and 2014) members elected to four-year terms. Election of members is done using a semi-proportional representation: a mixed-member m ...
.
Use in Italy
Scorporo was in force for elections to the bicameral
Parliament of Italy
The Italian Parliament () is the national parliament of the Italian Republic. It is the representative body of Italian citizens and is the successor to the Parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia (1848–1861), the Parliament of the Kingdom o ...
based on Law 277/1993 from 1993 to 2005. Under this system, members could be elected in two ways:
*75% of elected members were elected in single member districts (SMDs) using
first-past-the-post
First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...
voting.
*25% of elected members were elected on list basis based on the proportion of the votes received by the party (using the
D'Hondt method
The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is an apportionment method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in proportional representation among political parties. It belongs to ...
), with the exclusion of a proportion of any first-placed winner's votes.
The system was subject to the following specific rules for each chamber:
Senate
*List seats were calculated at the regional level.
*All votes for winning candidates were excluded from the list allocation.
*No threshold was applied for list seats.
*The SMD vote and the list vote were linked (
mixed single vote
A mixed single vote (MSV) is a type of ballot in mixed-member electoral systems, where voters cast a single vote in an election, which is used both for electing a local candidate and as a vote for a party affiliated with that candidate accordin ...
) limiting the use of decoy lists (see below).
Chamber of Deputies
*The list seats were calculated at the national level.
*The number of SMD winner's votes excluded from the list vote was equal to the second place candidate's vote total, representing the number of votes needed to elect the winner in the SMD (i.e. non-
wasted votes).
*A 4% threshold was established for parties to qualify for the list seats.
*The local vote and list vote were not tied to each other, thereby providing an incentive for
decoy lists
Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP or MMPR) is a type of representation provided by some mixed electoral systems which combine local winner-take-all elections with a compensatory tier with party lists, in a way that produces p ...
(see below).
Abuse in the 2001 Italian Chamber of Deputies election
In the
2001 Italian general election, one of the two main coalitions (the
House of Freedoms, which opposed the scorporo system), linked many of their constituency candidates to a
decoy list
Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP or MMPR) is a type of representation provided by some mixed electoral systems which combine local winner-take-all elections with a compensatory tier with party lists, in a way that produces pr ...
(''lista civetta'') for the proportional component, under the name ''Abolizione Scorporo'' (Abolish Scorporo). This list was not designed to win proportional seats, but only to soak up constituency votes for House of Freedoms, enabling them to win a larger share of the proportional list seats than they would be entitled to if all candidates were linked other House of Freedoms parties. This intentionally undermined the compensatory nature of the electoral system. As a defensive move, the other coalition,
The Olive Tree, created their own decoy list under the name ''Paese Nuovo'' (New Country).
The decoy lists were extremely successful. Between them, candidates linked to the decoy lists won 360 of the 475 constituency seats, more than half of the total of 630 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. Meanwhile, the decoy lists won a combined total of less than 0.2% of the proportional part of the vote. For the two main coalitions, their vote totals in the proportional component were essentially unaffected by the constituency votes, enabling them to win far more proportional seats than the system was designed for. In the case of
Forza Italia
(FI; ) was a centre-right liberal-conservative political party in Italy, with Christian democratic,Chiara Moroni, , Carocci, Rome 2008 liberalOreste Massari, ''I partiti politici nelle democrazie contempoiranee'', Laterza, Rome-Bari 2004 (esp ...
(a party within House of Freedoms), the tactic was so successful that it did not have enough candidates in the proportional component, and its list exhausted before it could be awarded all the seats it had won, ultimately missing out on 12 additional seats.
This was facilitated by the fact that this particular scorporo system allowed the single-member constituency vote and the proportional list vote not to be linked. Decoy lists are a common issue in all compensatory and pseudo-compensatory systems, and this was not a unique problem for scorporo.
Abolition
Due to
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; 29 September 193612 June 2023) was an Italian Media proprietor, media tycoon and politician who served as the prime minister of Italy in three governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a mem ...
's opposition to the system, Italy changed to a
majority bonus system
A majority bonus system (MBS, also called a minority-friendly majoritarian system) is a mixed-member, partly-proportional electoral system that gives extra seats in a legislature to the party with a plurality or majority of seats. Typically, th ...
in 2005.
In
2018
Events January
* January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency.
* January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
,
parallel voting
In political science, parallel voting or superposition refers to the use of two or more Electoral system, electoral systems to elect different members of a legislature. More precisely, an electoral system is a superposition if it is a mixture o ...
was brought back by the
Rosatellum law.
See also
*
Elections in Italy
*
Additional member system
The additional-member system (AMS) is a two-vote seat-linkage-based mixed electoral system used in the United Kingdom in which most legislator, representatives are elected in single-member districts (SMDs), and a fixed number of other "addition ...
References
{{Voting systems
Semi-proportional electoral systems
Elections in Italy
Mixed electoral systems