THE ELECTION OF PARLIAMENT l8l

not quite half the total cast; yet the party secured two-thirds
of the seats. The Labour party, with about 5,500,000 votes,
a third of the total, secured only a quarter of the seats.
In 1929, however, Labour, with 37% of the votes won
47% of the seats, while the Conservatives, with a slightly
larger vote than that of Labour, won only 40% of the scab.
In 1931 the parties supporting the Government had two-thirds
of the votes and nine-tenths of the seats; in 1935 they had 55%
of the votes and 70% of the seats. The smallest party is usually
the heaviest loser; the Liberals, in 1929, had nearly a quarter of
the votes but less tfraq one-tenth of the seats.

Various methods are proposed to get a House more exactly
representing the voting strength of the parties. One of these,
the Second Ballot, is used in France. After the first voting day
only those candidates who have received more than half the
votes cast in their constituencies are.elected. In the other con-
stituencies the candidates at the bottom of the poll withdraw,
and a week kter the people make their choice among those who
remain. When another method, the Transferable Vote, is used,
the voter puts against the name of the candidate he supports,
not a cross, but the figure i; then if he wishes he can put 2, 3,
and so on against other names, in order of preference. If a
candidate has a clear majority of first choices, he is elected; if
not, the votes given to the candidates at the bottom of the poll
are divided according to the second choice marked an them;
this process, is repeated until one candidate has a dear majority.
This method is used in the University constituencies, in most
of which, however, it is complicated by the fact that two or
three Members are to be elected,

The University system is in fact an intermediate step between
the simple Transferable Vote and the plan of Proportional
Representation. The latter is more elaborate than either of the
previous plans, but also more successful in making the elected
assembly a miniature reproduction of the electorate. The
country would be divided into large constituencies returning