Editing Gerrymandering (section)

===United Kingdom===

====Northern Ireland====
=====Parliamentary Elections=====
Prior to the establishment of [[Irish Home Rule|Home Rule]] in [[Northern Ireland]], the UK government had installed the [[single transferable vote]] (STV) system in Ireland to secure fair elections in terms of proportional representation in its [[Parliament of Northern Ireland|Parliaments]]. After two elections under that system, [[House of Commons (Method of Voting and Redistribution of Seats) Act (Northern Ireland) 1929|in 1929]] Stormont changed the electoral system to be the same as the rest of the [[United Kingdom]]: a single-member [[first past the post]] system. The only exception was for the election of four Stormont MPs to represent the [[Queen's University of Belfast]]. Some believe that the boundaries were gerrymandered to under-represent Nationalists.<ref name="coogan637" /> Other geographers and historians, for instance Professor [[John H. Whyte]], disagree.<ref name="whyte" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ark.ac.uk/elections/hnihoc.htm |title=Northern Ireland House of Commons, 1921–1972 |publisher=Ark.ac.uk |access-date=5 August 2009}}</ref> They have argued that the electoral boundaries for the [[Parliament of Northern Ireland]] were not gerrymandered to a greater level than that produced by any single-winner election system, and that the actual number of Nationalist MPs barely changed under the revised system (it went from 12 to 11 and later went back up to 12). Most observers have acknowledged that the change to a single-winner system was a key factor, however, in stifling the growth of smaller political parties, such as the [[Northern Ireland Labour Party]] and [[Independent Unionist]]s. In the 1967 election, Unionists won 35.5% of the votes and received 60% of the seats, while Nationalists got 27.4% of the votes but received 40% of the seats. This meant that both the Unionist and Nationalist parties were over-represented, while the Northern Ireland Labour Party and [[Independent politician|Independents]] (amounting to more than 35% of the votes cast) were severely under-represented.

After Westminster reintroduced direct rule in 1973, it restored the single transferable vote (STV) for [[1973 Northern Ireland Assembly election|elections]] to the [[Northern Ireland Assembly (1973)|Northern Ireland Assembly]] in the following year, using the same definitions of constituencies as for the Westminster Parliament. Currently, in Northern Ireland, all elections use STV except those for positions in the [[Westminster Parliament]], which follow the pattern in the rest of the United Kingdom by using "first past the post."

=====Local authority elections=====
{{Unbalanced|date=April 2020|section}}
<!-- I coun't find a more appropriate or inline template. I have put a POV tag below to highlight the problem. The problem is that An Phoblacht is a publication whose sole purpose is to disseminate a separatist or republican viewpoint to readers, and which has close links to Sinn Féin and the IRA. Also, the section (including a selection at the top of the article) is unbalanced in terms of explaining any counter-argument to the claim of gerrymandering in Northern Ireland. -->

Gerrymandering (in {{Langx|ga|Claonroinnt}}) in local elections was introduced in 1923 by the Leech Commission. This was a one-man commission: Sir John Leech, K.C. was appointed by [[Dawson Bates]], Northern Ireland's [[Minister of Home Affairs]], to redraw Northern Ireland's local government electoral boundaries.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bew|first1=Paul|last2=Patterson|first2=Henry|last3=Gibbon|first3=Peter|title=The state in Northern Ireland, 1921–72: political forces and social classes  |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RXm7AAAAIAAJ&q=leech |pages=  |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=1979 |isbn=978-0-7190-0814-6|oclc= }}</ref>{{rp|68}} Leech was also chairman of the Advisory Committee who recommended the release or continued detention of the persons that the Northern Irish government was interning without trial at that time.<ref>{{cite book |last= McConville |first= Sean |title=Irish Political Prisoners 1920–1962: Pilgrimage of Desolation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=au_eDwAAQBAJ&q=Leech |pages= |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year= 2020 |isbn= 978-1-000-08274-6 |oclc= }}</ref> Leech's changes (gerrymandered electoral boundaries, abolishing proportional representation),<ref>McCluskey, Fergal, (2013), ''The Irish Revolution 1912-23: Tyrone'', Four Courts Press, Dublin, pg 126, ISBN 9781846822995</ref> together with a resultant boycott by the [[Irish Nationalist]] community, resulted in [[Irish unionism|Unionists]] gaining control of [[Londonderry County Borough Council]], [[Fermanagh County Council|Fermanagh]] and [[Tyrone County Council]]s, and retaking eight rural district councils. These county councils, and most of the district councils, remained under Unionist control despite the majority of their population being Catholic until the UK government imposed [[Direct rule (Northern Ireland)|Direct Rule]] in 1972.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Callanan |first1=Mark |title=Local Government in Ireland: Inside Out |last2=Keogan |first2=Justin F. |publisher=Institute of Public Administration |year=2003 |isbn=1-902448-93-6 |location=Dublin |pages=460–462}}</ref><ref name="Magill">{{Cite news |url=https://magill.ie/archive/north-crisis-realities-discrimination |date=1 September 1969 |title=The North in crisis-The realities of discrimination |work=[[Magill Magazine]]}}</ref><!-- <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.anphoblacht.com/contents/22187|title=Gerrymandering electoral boundaries {{!}} An Phoblacht|website=www.anphoblacht.com|access-date=29 August 2019}}</ref>{{POV statement|date=April 2020}}-->

Leech's new electoral boundaries for the 1924 Londonderry County Borough Council election reduced the number of wards from four to three, only one of which had a Nationalist majority. This resulted in election of a [[Unionists (Ireland)|Unionist]] council in every election, until the County Borough Council's replacement in 1969 by the unelected Londonderry Development Commission, in a city where [[Irish nationalism|Nationalists]] had a large majority and had won [[1920 Londonderry County Borough Council election|previous elections]].<ref name="Laffan">{{cite book |last=Laffan |first=Michael |title=The Resurrection of Ireland: The Sinn Féin Party, 1916–1923 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zbz6p-O39aoC&q=labour+ireland+1920+394+seats&pg=PA327 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=327 |isbn= 978-1-139-42629-9|year=1999 }}</ref><ref name="whyte">{{cite web |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/discrimination/whyte.htm |title=CAIN: Issues – Discrimination: John Whyte, 'How much discrimination was there under the Unionist regime, 1921–1968?' |publisher=Cain.ulst.ac.uk |access-date=5 August 2009 |archive-date=16 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190116023959/http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/discrimination/whyte.htm }}</ref>

Some critics and supporters spoke at the time of "[[A Protestant Parliament for a Protestant People]]".<ref>See: Ferriter D. ''The Transformation of Ireland 1900–2000'' London: Profile Press 2004, p.281; {{ISBN|1-86197-307-1}}. Buckland P., ''The Factory of Grievances: Devolved Government in Northern Ireland 1921–1939'' New York: Barnes & Noble; Dublin: Gill & MacMillan 1979, p.72 {{ISBN|0-06-490752-X}}. Cronin S., ''Irish Nationalism: A History of its Roots and Ideology'' New York: Continuum, 1981; p.177 {{ISBN|0-8264-0062-0}}. Tierney M., ''Modern Ireland 1850–1950'' Dublin; Gill and Macmillan, 1978; p.230. {{ISBN|0-7171-0886-4}}.</ref><!-- No context. No reference to the fact that the phrase "Protestant Parliament and a Protestant State" was used in direct response to the claim made by Éamon Devalera that the Irish Free State was a "Catholic nation". --> This passed also into local government, where supporters of the elected majorities were given jobs and appointments.<ref name= Magill /> [[Stephen Gwynn]] noted as early as 1911 that since the introduction of the [[Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898]]:

<blockquote>In [[County Armagh|Armagh]] there are 68,000 Protestants, 56,000 Catholics. The County Council has twenty-two Protestants and eight Catholics. In [[County Tyrone|Tyrone]], Catholics are a majority of the population, 82,000 against 68,000; but the electoral districts have been so arranged that Unionists return sixteen as against thirteen Nationalists (one a Protestant). This Council gives to the Unionists two to one majority on its Committees, and out of fifty-two officials employs only five Catholics. In [[County Antrim|Antrim]], which has the largest Protestant majority (196,000 to 40,000), twenty-six Unionists and three Catholics are returned. Sixty officers out of sixty-five are good Unionists and Protestants.<ref>Gwynn S.L. ''The Case for Home Rule'' (1911) pp. 104–105. (http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/E900030.html book text here; accessed August 2010)</ref></blockquote>

Initially Leech drew the boundaries, but from the 1920s to the 1940s the [[Parliament of Northern Ireland|province-wide government]] redrew them to reinforce the gerrymander.<ref name="whyte" />{{rp|1(c)}}<ref>{{Cite news |first=Robert |last=Kee |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/clips/zmfqhyc |date=17 February 1981 |title=Gerrymandering in Londonderry in the late 1960s |publisher=BBC Bitesize}}</ref>

[[Cahir Healy]], the long time MP for Counties Fermanagh and Tyrone highlighted the extent of gerrymandering in County Borough Councils elections of the 1930s: Fermanagh reported 30,196 Nationalists and 24,272 Unionists yet Nationalists retained only seven seats while Unionists retained 12. Similar results occurred in County Tyrone: 70,595 Nationalists retained 11 seats while 56,981 Unionists held 16 seats.<ref>Healy, Cahir (1945), ''The Mutilation of a Nation : The Story behind Partition in Ireland'', The Derry Journal Ltd, pg 40, JSTOR, https://jstor.org/stable/community.29825522. Accessed 24 July 2023.</ref>

====United Kingdom – Boundary review====
The number of electors in a [[List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies|United Kingdom constituency]] can vary considerably, with the smallest constituency as of 2017 (Scotland's [[Na h-Eileanan an Iar (UK Parliament constituency)|Na h-Eileanan an Iar]] (21,769 constituents) and [[Orkney and Shetland (UK Parliament constituency)|Orkney and Shetland]] (34,552)) having fewer than a fifth of the electors of the largest (England's [[North West Cambridgeshire]] (93,223) and [[Isle of Wight (UK Parliament constituency)|Isle of Wight]] (110,697)). This variation has resulted from:

*[[Scotland]] and [[Wales]] being favored in the Westminster Parliament with deliberately smaller electoral quotas (average electors per constituency) than those in [[England]] and [[Northern Ireland]]. This inequality was initiated by the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1958, which eliminated the previous common electoral quota for the whole United Kingdom and replaced it with four separate national quotas for the respective Boundaries commissions to work to: England 69,534; Northern Ireland 67,145; Wales 58,383; and Scotland 54,741.
* Current rules historically favoring geographically "natural"{{clarify|date=April 2014}} constituencies such as islands, which continue to give Wales and Scotland proportionally greater representation.
* Population migrations, due to [[white flight]] and [[deindustrialization]] tending to decrease the number of electors in inner-city districts.

Under the [[Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies]], the [[Conservative – Liberal Democrat coalition agreement|Coalition government]] planned to review and redraw the parliamentary constituency boundaries for the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom]]. The review and redistricting was to be carried out by the [[boundary commissions (United Kingdom)|four UK boundary commissions]] to produce a reduction from 650 to 600 seats, and more uniform sizes, such that a [[United Kingdom constituencies|constituency]] was to have no fewer than 70,583 and no more than 80,473 electors. The process was intended to address historic [[malapportionment]] and be complete by 2015.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19166125 | title=Q&A: Boundary changes | publisher=BBC | date=29 January 2013 | access-date=14 February 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/election2010/results/default.stm | title=Election 2010 Results | publisher=BBC | date=6 May 2010 | access-date=14 February 2013}}</ref> Preliminary reports suggesting the areas set to lose the fewest seats historically tended to vote [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]], while other less populous and deindustrialized regions, such as Wales, which would lose a larger proportion of its seats, tending to have more [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] and [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrat]] voters, partially correcting the existing malapportionment. In January 2013, an opposition (Labour) motion to suspend the review until after the next general election was tabled in the House of Lords and a vote called in the [[United Kingdom House of Commons]]. The motion was passed with the help of the Liberal Democrats, going back on an election pledge. {{as of|2016|October|}}, a new review is in progress and a draft of the new boundaries has been published.{{Update inline|date=June 2023}}