Proportionality and Integration in County-Level Elections

The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how the current electoral system affects the representativeness of county (powiat) councils in Poland and how it shapes the strategic interests of political parties. To this end, the analysis employs two tools that go beyond standard indices of proportionality: the advantage ratio (Taagepera Rein, and Matthew S. Shugart. 1989. Seats and Votes: The Effects and Determinants of Electoral Systems. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press) and the whole picture of unequal representation (Wada, Junichiro, and Yuta Kamahara. 2024. A unified approach to measuring unequal representation. Public Choice, 201(1), 287-308.). These measures show that although the general pattern produced by proportionality profiles follows what would be expected from the properties of the D’Hondt system, the use of very small electoral districts generates highly chaotic outcomes at the level of individual counties. At the same time, the mechanism of progressive proportionality (Haman, Jacek. 2017. The Concept of Degressive and Progressive Proportionality and Its Normative and Descriptive Applications. Studies in Logic, Grammar and Rhetoric 50 (1): 67–91.) contributes to the integration of local political arenas. This analysis is particularly relevant in the context of potential reforms of the system, specifically the proposed introduction of a local-proportional electoral system in Polish local elections — a solution adopted as a reform proposal for elections to the Sejm by a special parliamentary committee (Flis, Jarosław, Marek M. Kaminski, and Jeremiasz Salamon. 2025. The mixed local-proportional electoral system: balancing political interests and common good. Public Choice 204, 221–236). The paper presents and tests a solution that preserves the existing configuration of interests, especially those of parliamentary parties, while eliminating the unintended side effects associated with the use of small electoral districts.