Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic

Abstract: The article exposes the problems connected with defining and measuring the proportionality of election results. It presents current and predominant methods used to measure proportionality and points to some possible alternative approaches to understanding and measuring proportionality. Current discourse gives priority to measuring proportionality using one of two basic methods for determining the proportional division of seats: the quotas and the largest remainders. Proportionality measured using these formulae is based on the principle of summing up the absolute differences between the share of votes and the share of seats. These measurement methods are known for their ability to best assess election results attained with the aid of Hare quota and the largest remainder method. The article therefore presents an alternative approach in the “real quota theory”, which provides the theoretical bases to construct a new RR index and its derivatives the ARR and the SRR indices. This approach to measurement is tied to the principle of dividing seats using the highest averages method, that is, the d’Hondt divisor. These new indices are defined as alternatives to traditional indices of proportionality.