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Now that I've found them, let me ask again: why aren't these numbers featured more prominently in election coverage?

This is really, I think, a question of the culture of election reporting, which varies widely from country to country.

I've noticed that in UK election coverage, for example, there is enormous emphasis placed on "swing" (percentage change from one party to another...reported in these German elections, but less prominently; and even less prominently reported, at least on election night, in the U.S.), as well as what the British somewhat misleading call "majority" (which we in the U.S. would call margin of victory) in each constituency.

by GreenSooner (greensooner@NOSPAMintergate.com) on Sun Sep 18th, 2005 at 07:54:03 PM EST
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Yeah, I find the swingometer ludicrous,

again, Germany has proportional representation, that means the percentage is sufficient, you know there are about 70mio eligible to vot, you know there were 80% that went to the election and the SPD got 34%, get you own calculator.

The whole election is mouch more straight forward, because every (second) vote (almost) counts the same unlike the US or Britain

by PeWi on Sun Sep 18th, 2005 at 08:04:06 PM EST
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Because you don't have a pure PR system, that first vote matters, too. And yet, as far as I can tell, what gets reported upfront is just the percentage of Zweitstimmen, no?
by GreenSooner (greensooner@NOSPAMintergate.com) on Sun Sep 18th, 2005 at 08:12:04 PM EST
[ Parent ]
that's right. The percentage you get is the second vote, but the distribution of seats includes the first vote induced overhang votes (and I have see this in the past as 315+3 or some such
by PeWi on Sun Sep 18th, 2005 at 08:19:13 PM EST
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This may sound stupid, but I'm guessing we just don't see the point in dealing with very large numbers - percentages are so much easier to process.

If you can't convince them, confuse them. (Harry S. Truman)
by brainwave on Sun Sep 18th, 2005 at 08:11:43 PM EST
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