How Do The Votes Get Allocated to Seats in the Federal Election?
After 77.7 per cent of the votes were counted, and the ABC were releasing data on votes and numbers of seats allocated to each party, I began to wonder about how inequitable it is.
Look at the Green Vote below. They have 1 million votes, and ONE seat in parliament. But the leading group, the LNP with 4.5 million votes, are shown with 65 seats. With real proportional representation that should be the LNP having 4.5 times the seats as the Greens.
But then, the ALP have 3.8 million votes (half a million LESS than LNP, and 67 seats, (that’s 2 seats MORE than the LNP, but with less votes)
| Party | Votes | Seats | Votes per seat |
| Liberal Nationals | 4,520,675 | 65 | 69,549 |
| Labor Party | 3,842,513 | 67 | 57,351 |
| Greens | 1,081,537 | 1 | 1,081,537 |
| Others | 744,891 | 2 | 372,446 |
| Christian Parties | 393,188 | 0 | |
| Nick Xenophon Team | 203,541 | 1 | 203,541 |
| Katter’s Australian Party | 55,097 | 1 | 55,097 |
| Country Liberals | 24,075 | 0 | |
| Palmer’s United Party | 307 | 0 |
The above figures are subject to change as more results come in.
I feel these results would look much more equitable, and evenly split by votes:
| Party | Votes | Seats | Votes per seat |
| Liberal Nationals | 4,520,675 | 57 | 79,310 |
| Labor Party | 3,842,513 | 48 | 80,052 |
| Greens | 1,081,537 | 14 | 77,253 |
| Others | 744,891 | 9 | 82,766 |
| Christian Parties | 393,188 | 5 | 78,638 |
| Nick Xenophon Team | 203,541 | 3 | 67,847 |
| Katter’s Australian Party | 55,097 | 1 | 55,097 |
| Country Liberals | 24,075 | 0 | |
| Palmer’s United Party | 307 | 0 |