Geography of Electoral Districting or Gerrymandering and Malapportionment, Romanian‑style

Abstract

In 2008, Romania instituted an electoral system that uses proportional methods for distributing seats to political parties and uninominal constituencies for assigning parliamentary seats to candidates. Uninominal constituencies are based on territorial divisions into constituencies and therefore imply the possibility for cartographic abuses designed to favour individual candidates within a particular political party. This article illustrates the ways in which the Romanian electoral system generates peculiar forms of gerrymandering and malapportionment. I will show how the geography of districting can favour one candidate or another from the same political party.

Keywords

• elections
• electoral system
• gerrymandering
• malapportionment
• Romania