Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral district boundaries, usually in response to periodic census results.[1] Redistribution is required by law or constitution at least every decade in most representative democracy systems that use first-past-the-post or similar electoral systems to prevent geographic malapportionment.[citation needed] The act of manipulation of electoral districts to favour a candidate or party is called gerrymandering.
In Australia, redistributions are carried out by independent and non-partisan commissioners in the Commonwealth, and in each state or territory. The various electoral acts require the population of each seat to be equal, within certain strictly limited variations. The longest period between two redistributions can be no greater than seven years. Many other triggers can force redistribution before the chronological limit is reached. The redistribution is drafted by civil servants.
In Canada, the Constitution mandates that redistribution in the federal House of Commons occur "on the completion of each decennial census."[2] The number of seats amongst the ten provinces is set by several related constitutional provisions. District boundaries within provinces are based on electoral quotients for that province. Independent boundary commissions issue reports with new district boundaries for each province.
Once the reports are produced, they are then submitted to Parliament, MPs may offer objections to the boundaries, but the boundary commissions are not compelled to make any changes as a result of the objections.[3]
Similar processes are followed in each province, under provincial law.
IndiaEdit
India has an established process to redistribute its legislative districts. Redistributions are approved by political appointees to the Boundary Commission of India.
The Constitution of Ireland states that general elections to the Dáil (lower house) must use the single transferable vote (STV), that each Dáil constituency must return at least three members (TDs), that boundaries must be revised at least every twelve years, and that the ratio of TDs to inhabitants (not voters or citizens) be between 20,000 and 30,000 on average and "so far as it is practicable" equal between constituencies.[4]Electoral Acts are passed by the Oireachtas to revise boundaries in light of the most recent census.[5] In constituencies for the next general election, the 2016 population per TD averages 29,762, varying from 28,199 in Dublin North-West to 31,270 in Dún Laoghaire.[6] Since 1977, an independent body (since 1997 a permanent Constituency Commission) recommends boundaries, which the Oireachtas usually accepts.[5] The terms of reference of the Commission have set five seats as the maximum and discourage constituencies crossing county boundaries.[n 1][5] A separate Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee fulfils a similar function for local electoral area boundaries. A proposed Electoral Commission would replace both the Constituency Commission and the Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee.[7]
Before 1977, boundary drawing was often partisan in favour of the government of the day. The Electoral (Amendment) Act 1959 was struck out in 1961 by the Supreme Court as being repugnant to the Constitution because of excessive malapportionment.[5] The replacement Electoral (Amendment) Act 1961 relied on manipulating district size[n 2] The Supreme Court allowed the 1961 Act, ruling that the Oireachtas had wide latitude to decide what degree of divergence was "practicable" and what factors could be considered, but reserved the right to judicial review of proposed boundaries.[5][10]A 1968 proposal rejected by referendum would have specified one-sixth as the maximum constituency divergence from the average population per TD. Another proposal, rejected simultaneously, would have established a constituency commission (ancillary to replacing STV with first-past-the-post voting). The Electoral (Amendment) Act 1974 attempted a manipulation similar to the 1961 act, but backfired when a larger than expected swing created a tipping point favouring the opposition in 1977. There was a lacuna after the publication of the 2016 census results in which the Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Act 2013 was in force but its 158 seats breached the 30,000 population average; jurists wondered whether the courts would have permitted a general election in the interim before the Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Act 2017 resolved the issue.[11]
JapanEdit
Japan does not have an established process to redistribute its legislative districts. The frequency of redistributions is irregular and not triggered a particular event. Redistributions are approved by the national legislature.[citation needed]
KazakhstanEdit
In Kazakhstan, the redistribution of legislative districts is conducted by the Central Election Commission (CEC) as accordance with Articles 12 and 22 of the Constitutional Law "On Elections".[12] Under the guidelines of the CEC, the redistribution cycle for legislative elections takes place at least six months prior to the expiration of the term of elected deputies.[13]
In Mexico, an independent administrative body, called the Instituto Nacional Electoral, redraws congressional districts according to an objective scoring function and optimization algorithm. Although political parties can propose maps, the process is largely influenced by redistricting algorithms.[citation needed]
New ZealandEdit
New Zealand has a fixed process to determine how its legislative districts are redistributed. Redistribution in New Zealand happens every five years following the census.[14]
PhilippinesEdit
In the Philippines, redistricting is carried out by Congress after every quinquennial census is published. However, Congress has never passed a general redistricting act, and instead redistricts provinces or cities piecemeal, or creates new provinces or cities with legislative districts. The last general redistricting law was via the ordinance in the 1987 constitution, which was based from the 1980 census. The creation of a new province or city needs the approval of the public via a plebiscite, while piecemeal redistricting does not need a plebiscite.[citation needed]
In the United Kingdom, there are four Boundary Commissions (one each for England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland) responsible for reviewing the boundaries of Parliamentary constituencies. Members of Boundary Commissions are political appointees.
In the United States, redistribution occurs after each decennial census. Most states' legislative district redistributions are approved by the state legislature. Supreme Court rulings (such as the one man, one vote principle) require that legislative districts have roughly equal populations.
^Large counties may be split into multiple constituencies, and small counties paired in a single constituency, but combining part of one county with part or all of another causes controversy.
^Where the Fianna Fáil party of the then government had less than 50% support, four-seat constituencies were used, so that Fianna Fáil would win two of four seats; where it had more than 50% support, three- or five-seat constituencies would give it two of three, or three of five.[8][9]
ReferencesEdit
^"Boundary Delimitation Glossary". ACE: The Electoral Knowledge Network. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
^"The Constitution Act, 1867 (UK), 30 & 31 Victoria, c 3, Section 51 (1)". Canadian Legal Information Institute. 1 April 1999. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
^"Electoral boundaries". House of Commons Procedure and Practice Second Edition, 2009: Parliament of Canada.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
^"Constitution Of Ireland". Article 16. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
^ abcdeForde, Michael; Leonard, David (2013). Constitutional Law of Ireland (3rd ed.). A&C Black. §§21.05–21.08. ISBN9781847667380. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
^Constituency Commission (2017). "Appendix 2: Statistics relating to recommended Dáil constituencies". Constituency Commission Report 2017: Dáil and European Parliament Constituencies(PDF). Dublin: Stationery Office. p. 66. ISBN978-1-4064-2952-7.; "Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Bill 2017: Second Stage". Seanad Éireann debate. Oireachtas. 15 December 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2018.; "Electoral (Amendment) (Dáil Constituencies) Act 2017". electronic Irish Statute Book. 23 December 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
^"Consultation Paper on the Establishment of an Electoral Commission in Ireland" (PDF). Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government (DECLG). 27 January 2015. Retrieved 28 April 2015.
^Parker, A. J. (1986). "Geography and the Irish Electoral System". Irish Geography. 19 (1): 1–14. doi:10.1080/00750778609478835. ISSN 0075-0778.
^Harrop, Martin; Miller, William Lockley (1987). Elections and voters: a comparative introduction. Macmillan Education. p. 65. ISBN9780333347607.
^"In re Art. 26 of the Constitution and the Electoral (Amendment) Bill, 1961". [1961] I.R. 169. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
^Carolan, Mary (28 November 2017). "Next Dáil 'unconstitutional' if number of TDs not increased". The Irish Times. Retrieved 1 October 2018.; O'Mahony, Conor; Ó Conaill, Seán (27 November 2017). "Not Just a Christmas Election – An Unconstitutional Election?". Constitution Project. UCC. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
^"On Elections in the Republic of Kazakhstan". adilet.zan.kz. Retrieved 14 July 2023.
^""Қазақстан Республикасы Парламенті Мәжілісінің және мәслихаттарының депутаттарын сайлау бойынша сайлау округтерін құру тәртібі туралы" Қазақстан Республикасы Орталық сайлау комиссиясының 2022 жылғы 22 қарашадағы № 110/604 Қаулысы (2022.27.12. берілген өзгерістермен)". Информационная система ПАРАГРАФ (in Kazakh). Retrieved 14 July 2023.
^"Calculating future Māori and General Electorates | Electoral Commission". 18 November 2013. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
External linksEdit
A guide to Boundary Delimitation a series of articles from the ACE Project
Reapportionment and Redistricting in the U.S. — from the ACE Project
Boundary Delimitation in the Legal Framework of Elections — from the International IDEA publication International Electoral Standards: Guidelines for reviewing the legal framework of elections
U.S. House of Representatives — District apportionment 1790 to 2000
September 01, 2023
redistribution, election, confused, with, boundary, delimitation, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, re. Not to be confused with Boundary delimitation This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Redistribution election news newspapers books scholar JSTOR July 2012 Learn how and when to remove this template message Redistribution re districting in the United States and in the Philippines is the process by which electoral districts are added removed or otherwise changed Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral district boundaries usually in response to periodic census results 1 Redistribution is required by law or constitution at least every decade in most representative democracy systems that use first past the post or similar electoral systems to prevent geographic malapportionment citation needed The act of manipulation of electoral districts to favour a candidate or party is called gerrymandering Contents 1 Australia 2 Canada 3 India 4 Ireland 5 Japan 6 Kazakhstan 7 Mexico 8 New Zealand 9 Philippines 10 United Kingdom 11 United States 12 See also 13 Notes 14 References 15 External linksAustralia EditMain article Redistribution Australia In Australia redistributions are carried out by independent and non partisan commissioners in the Commonwealth and in each state or territory The various electoral acts require the population of each seat to be equal within certain strictly limited variations The longest period between two redistributions can be no greater than seven years Many other triggers can force redistribution before the chronological limit is reached The redistribution is drafted by civil servants Canada EditMain article Electoral district Canada Boundary adjustment In Canada the Constitution mandates that redistribution in the federal House of Commons occur on the completion of each decennial census 2 The number of seats amongst the ten provinces is set by several related constitutional provisions District boundaries within provinces are based on electoral quotients for that province Independent boundary commissions issue reports with new district boundaries for each province Once the reports are produced they are then submitted to Parliament MPs may offer objections to the boundaries but the boundary commissions are not compelled to make any changes as a result of the objections 3 Similar processes are followed in each province under provincial law India EditIndia has an established process to redistribute its legislative districts Redistributions are approved by political appointees to the Boundary Commission of India Ireland EditFurther information Constituency Commission The Constitution of Ireland states that general elections to the Dail lower house must use the single transferable vote STV that each Dail constituency must return at least three members TDs that boundaries must be revised at least every twelve years and that the ratio of TDs to inhabitants not voters or citizens be between 20 000 and 30 000 on average and so far as it is practicable equal between constituencies 4 Electoral Acts are passed by the Oireachtas to revise boundaries in light of the most recent census 5 In constituencies for the next general election the 2016 population per TD averages 29 762 varying from 28 199 in Dublin North West to 31 270 in Dun Laoghaire 6 Since 1977 an independent body since 1997 a permanent Constituency Commission recommends boundaries which the Oireachtas usually accepts 5 The terms of reference of the Commission have set five seats as the maximum and discourage constituencies crossing county boundaries n 1 5 A separate Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee fulfils a similar function for local electoral area boundaries A proposed Electoral Commission would replace both the Constituency Commission and the Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee 7 Before 1977 boundary drawing was often partisan in favour of the government of the day The Electoral Amendment Act 1959 was struck out in 1961 by the Supreme Court as being repugnant to the Constitution because of excessive malapportionment 5 The replacement Electoral Amendment Act 1961 relied on manipulating district size n 2 The Supreme Court allowed the 1961 Act ruling that the Oireachtas had wide latitude to decide what degree of divergence was practicable and what factors could be considered but reserved the right to judicial review of proposed boundaries 5 10 A 1968 proposal rejected by referendum would have specified one sixth as the maximum constituency divergence from the average population per TD Another proposal rejected simultaneously would have established a constituency commission ancillary to replacing STV with first past the post voting The Electoral Amendment Act 1974 attempted a manipulation similar to the 1961 act but backfired when a larger than expected swing created a tipping point favouring the opposition in 1977 There was a lacuna after the publication of the 2016 census results in which the Electoral Amendment Dail Constituencies Act 2013 was in force but its 158 seats breached the 30 000 population average jurists wondered whether the courts would have permitted a general election in the interim before the Electoral Amendment Dail Constituencies Act 2017 resolved the issue 11 Japan EditJapan does not have an established process to redistribute its legislative districts The frequency of redistributions is irregular and not triggered a particular event Redistributions are approved by the national legislature citation needed Kazakhstan EditIn Kazakhstan the redistribution of legislative districts is conducted by the Central Election Commission CEC as accordance with Articles 12 and 22 of the Constitutional Law On Elections 12 Under the guidelines of the CEC the redistribution cycle for legislative elections takes place at least six months prior to the expiration of the term of elected deputies 13 Mexico EditMain article Instituto Nacional Electoral In Mexico an independent administrative body called the Instituto Nacional Electoral redraws congressional districts according to an objective scoring function and optimization algorithm Although political parties can propose maps the process is largely influenced by redistricting algorithms citation needed New Zealand EditNew Zealand has a fixed process to determine how its legislative districts are redistributed Redistribution in New Zealand happens every five years following the census 14 Philippines EditIn the Philippines redistricting is carried out by Congress after every quinquennial census is published However Congress has never passed a general redistricting act and instead redistricts provinces or cities piecemeal or creates new provinces or cities with legislative districts The last general redistricting law was via the ordinance in the 1987 constitution which was based from the 1980 census The creation of a new province or city needs the approval of the public via a plebiscite while piecemeal redistricting does not need a plebiscite citation needed United Kingdom EditMain article Boundary Commissions United Kingdom In the United Kingdom there are four Boundary Commissions one each for England Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland responsible for reviewing the boundaries of Parliamentary constituencies Members of Boundary Commissions are political appointees United States EditMain article Redistricting in the United States In the United States redistribution occurs after each decennial census Most states legislative district redistributions are approved by the state legislature Supreme Court rulings such as the one man one vote principle require that legislative districts have roughly equal populations See also EditApportionment GerrymanderingNotes Edit Large counties may be split into multiple constituencies and small counties paired in a single constituency but combining part of one county with part or all of another causes controversy Where the Fianna Fail party of the then government had less than 50 support four seat constituencies were used so that Fianna Fail would win two of four seats where it had more than 50 support three or five seat constituencies would give it two of three or three of five 8 9 References Edit Boundary Delimitation Glossary ACE The Electoral Knowledge Network Retrieved 4 December 2022 The Constitution Act 1867 UK 30 amp 31 Victoria c 3 Section 51 1 Canadian Legal Information Institute 1 April 1999 Retrieved 25 August 2013 Electoral boundaries House of Commons Procedure and Practice Second Edition 2009 Parliament of Canada a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint location link Constitution Of Ireland Article 16 Retrieved 2 September 2013 a b c d e Forde Michael Leonard David 2013 Constitutional Law of Ireland 3rd ed A amp C Black 21 05 21 08 ISBN 9781847667380 Retrieved 1 October 2018 Constituency Commission 2017 Appendix 2 Statistics relating to recommended Dail constituencies Constituency Commission Report 2017 Dail and European Parliament Constituencies PDF Dublin Stationery Office p 66 ISBN 978 1 4064 2952 7 Electoral Amendment Dail Constituencies Bill 2017 Second Stage Seanad Eireann debate Oireachtas 15 December 2017 Retrieved 2 October 2018 Electoral Amendment Dail Constituencies Act 2017 electronic Irish Statute Book 23 December 2017 Retrieved 2 October 2018 Consultation Paper on the Establishment of an Electoral Commission in Ireland PDF Department of the Environment Community and Local Government DECLG 27 January 2015 Retrieved 28 April 2015 Parker A J 1986 Geography and the Irish Electoral System Irish Geography 19 1 1 14 doi 10 1080 00750778609478835 ISSN 0075 0778 Harrop Martin Miller William Lockley 1987 Elections and voters a comparative introduction Macmillan Education p 65 ISBN 9780333347607 In re Art 26 of the Constitution and the Electoral Amendment Bill 1961 1961 I R 169 Retrieved 2 September 2013 Carolan Mary 28 November 2017 Next Dail unconstitutional if number of TDs not increased The Irish Times Retrieved 1 October 2018 O Mahony Conor o Conaill Sean 27 November 2017 Not Just a Christmas Election An Unconstitutional Election Constitution Project UCC Retrieved 1 October 2018 On Elections in the Republic of Kazakhstan adilet zan kz Retrieved 14 July 2023 Қazakstan Respublikasy Parlamenti Mәzhilisinin zhәne mәslihattarynyn deputattaryn sajlau bojynsha sajlau okrugterin kuru tәrtibi turaly Қazakstan Respublikasy Ortalyk sajlau komissiyasynyn 2022 zhylgy 22 karashadagy 110 604 Қaulysy 2022 27 12 berilgen ozgeristermen Informacionnaya sistema PARAGRAF in Kazakh Retrieved 14 July 2023 Calculating future Maori and General Electorates Electoral Commission 18 November 2013 Retrieved 10 April 2014 External links EditA guide to Boundary Delimitation a series of articles from the ACE Project Reapportionment and Redistricting in the U S from the ACE Project Boundary Delimitation in the Legal Framework of Elections from the International IDEA publication International Electoral Standards Guidelines for reviewing the legal framework of elections Redistribution Overview from the Australian Electoral Commission U S House of Representatives District apportionment 1790 to 2000 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Redistribution election amp oldid 1171108456, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
