Editing Proportional representation (section)

===Link between constituent and representative===
It is generally accepted that a particular advantage of plurality electoral systems such as first-past-the-post, or majoritarian electoral systems such as the [[Instant-runoff voting|alternative vote]], is the geographic link between representatives and their constituents.<ref name="ideaEsd" />{{rp|36}}<ref name="Law Commission of Canada">{{cite web |title=Voting Counts: Electoral Reform for Canada |url=http://publications.gc.ca/collections/Collection/J31-61-2004E.pdf |publisher=Law Commission of Canada |page=22 |year=2004}}</ref>{{rp|65}}<ref name="hansard1976">{{cite web |title=Report of the Hansard Society Commission on Electoral Reform |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ma0nvgAACAAJ |website=[[Hansard Society]] |location=London |date=1976 |last1=Commission On Electoral Reform |first1=Hansard Society for Parliamentary Government}}</ref>{{rp|21}} A notable disadvantage of PR is that, as its multiple-member districts are made larger, this link is weakened.<ref name="ideaEsd" />{{rp|82}} In party list PR systems without delineated districts, such as the Netherlands and Israel, the there is no geographic link between representatives and their constituents. This makes it more difficult for local or regional issues to be addressed at the federal level. With relatively small multiple-member districts, in particular with STV, there are counter-arguments: about 90 percent of voters can consult a representative they voted for, someone whom they might think more sympathetic to their problem. In such cases it is sometimes argued that constituents and representatives have a closer link;<ref name="DMstvPdf" /><ref name="amyRCNV" />{{rp|212}} constituents have a choice of representative so they can consult one with particular expertise in the topic at issue.<ref name="amyRCNV" />{{rp|212}}<ref name="ersSTV">{{cite web |title=Single Transferable Vote |url=https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/voting-systems/types-of-voting-system/single-transferable-vote/ |publisher=[[Electoral Reform Society]] |access-date=28 July 2014 |location=London}}</ref> With multiple-member districts, prominent candidates have more opportunity to be elected in their home constituencies, which they know and can represent authentically. There is less likely to be a strong incentive to [[Parachute candidate|parachute]] them into constituencies in which they are strangers and thus less than ideal representatives.<ref name="humphreys">{{cite book |last1=Humphreys |first1=John H |url=https://archive.org/details/proportionalrepr00humpuoft |title=Proportional Representation, A Study in Methods of Election |date=1911 |publisher=Methuen & Co.Ltd |location=London}}</ref>{{rp|248–250}} Mixed-member PR systems incorporate single-member districts to preserve the link between constituents and representatives.<ref name="ideaEsd" />{{rp|95}} However, because up to half the parliamentary seats are list rather than district seats, the districts are necessarily up to twice as large as with a plurality/majoritarian system where all representatives serve single-member districts.<ref name="hansard1976" />{{rp|32}}

An interesting case occurred in the Netherlands, when "out of the blue" a party for the elderly, the [[General Elderly Alliance]] gained six seats in the [[1994 Dutch general election|1994 election]]. The other parties had not paid attention, but this made them aware. With the next election, the Party of the Elderly was gone, because the established parties had started to listen to the elderly. Today, a party for older citizens, [[50PLUS]], has established itself in the Netherlands, albeit never winning as many as six seats.{{Citation needed|date=May 2025}} 

This can be seen as an example how geographic representation is not all-important and does not overshadow all other particulars of the voting population. Voting in a single-member district restricts the voters to a specific geography where their votes either go to the winner in the district or are wasted. MMP allows a vote (in the form of the voter's party vote) to be used outside the district if necessary to produce representation for the voter.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.parlement.com/id/vh8lnhrp1x0a/evenredige_vertegenwoordiging |title=Evenredige vertegenwoordiging |website=www.parlement.com |language=nl |access-date=28 January 2020}}</ref>