Nierówność wyborców w wyborach gminnych 2014
Inequality of Voters in 2014 Commune Elections

Summary/Abstract: This paper shows the results of the study on the malapportionment, using data from Polish local elections in 2014. A discrepancy between the share of legislative seats and the share of population held by electoral districts is referred to as malapportionment. If malapportionment is high, some voters are significantly overrepresented, while the others are underrepresented – malapportionment violates the one person, one vote principle. The significance of the study of malapportionment stems from the fact that the principle of political equality, understood as equal treatment of the citizens in the political process is an essential feature of democracy. Our findings suggest that in the relatively large number of electoral districts (more than 25%), inequality of voters was significant and violated the internationally recognized standards (contained e.g. in the Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters issued by the Venice Commission) as to the acceptable levels of deviations from the so-called “ideal” population.

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