The majority bonus system (MBS), sometimes referred to as the reinforced proportionality electoral system is a semi-proportional method of election multiple representatives. The majority bonus is typically classified a mixed electoral system, as it integrates both the proportionality and winner-take-all principles to provide mixed-member majoritarian representation. An academic term for such a hybrid system is fusion[1] , which means an independent combination of two systems in which the two formulas are mixed within the same district (the district in question may be a single, nationwide constituency). This makes it distinct from other mixed systems such as parallel voting (superposition) and coexistence. A majority bonus may also be one of the properties of a supermixed system.
The goal of the majority bonus system is to give extra seats in a legislature to some parties (most commonly the largest party), with the aim of providing government stability, particularly in parliamentary systems. The size of the majority bonus can vary significantly and usually it is a fixed number of seats, but it may be conditional on the number of votes received by parties. A relatively small majority bonus (such as in the reinforced proportionality system of Greece) may not always guarantee that a single party can form a government. A the same time, as the majority bonus is allocated in a non-compensatory manner, therefore if the majority bonus if as high as 50% and the largest party which has 50% of the popular vote receives it, this party may win as many as 75% of all seats. This differentiated it from the similar majority jackpot system.
It is currently used in Greece, French Polynesia and on a local level in Italy and France . In Argentina, it is used in the Chamber of Deputies of Santa Fe, Chubut, and Entre Ríos.
The bonus system adds a certain fixed number of additional seats to the winning party or alliance. In the Greek Parliament a sixth of the assembly seats are reserved as extra seats for the winning party. In the Sicilian Regional Assembly, a tenth of the assembly seats are granted to the winning coalition on top of those allocated proportionally. The size of majority bonuses may vary greatly, from as low as a few seats to up to 50%. In case of a bonus of 50%, the party also received their proportional share of the other 50% seats, which make a supermajority almost certain.
The following table shows how small (10%), medium (25%) and large (50%) majority bonuses would work without any additional distortions of proportional systems. Using an electoral threshold or an apportionment method favoring large parties would give an even larger bonus to the largest party. The reason why the difference of the seats share and vote share (the effective bonus) is lower than the bonus is that the number of non-bonus seats to be allocated proportionally is less than the total number of seats. If all parties would get their full proportional number of seats, and one party would get the (nominal) bonus on top of that, the total number of seats would increase. While this means the size of the effective bonus (without other factors giving an effective bonus) if always smaller than the nominal one in terms of percentages, this naturally means all the parties who don't receive a bonus have a naturally less seats than they would proportionally.
| Nominal size of bonus(%) | Vote shareof the largest party(%) | Vote shareof the 2nd largest party(%) | Appr. seat shareof the largest party(%) | Appr. seat shareof the 2nd largest party(%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10% | 30% | 25% | 37% | 23% | |
| 25% | 30% | 25% | 48% | 19% | |
| 50% | 30% | 25% | 65% | 13% | |
| 10% | 45% | 25% | 51% | 23% | |
| 25% | 45% | 25% | 59% | 19% | |
| 55% | 45% | 25% | 75% | 11% | |
| 10% | 60% | 25% | 64% | 23% | |
| 25% | 60% | 25% | 70% | 19% | |
| 55% | 60% | 25% | 82% | 11% |
See also: Majority jackpot system. The difference between the majority bonus and a majority jackpot is shown in the following table, where the largest party receives a majority bonus/jackpot.
| Size of jackpot (%) | Vote share of the largest party (%) | Appr. seat share of the largest party (%) | Effective bonus | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bonus system | Jackpot system | |||||
| 10% | 45% | 51% | 6% | |||
| 25% | 45% | 59% | 14% | |||
| 50% | 45% | 73% | 28% | |||
| 50% | 45% | 50% | 5% | |||
| 55% | 45% | 55% | 10% | |||
| 60% | 45% | 60% | 15% | |||
| 10% | 55% | 60% | 5% | |||
| 25% | 55% | 66% | 11% | |||
| 50% | 55% | 78% | 23% | |||
| 50% | 55% | 55% | 0% | |||
| 55% | 55% | 55% | 0% | |||
| 60% | 55% | 60% | 5% | |||
As the table shows, especially with a high bonus/jackpot, the two methods lead to different result, with the bonus always providing a higher seat share. For this reason the two are not usually directly compared in this, majority bonuses tend to be smaller than jackpots. The effect of a 55% jackpot for example is better compared to a bonus of around 10% to 30%.
Many winner-take-all electoral system have been described as providing a bonus to certain parties. Systems using single-member districts, particularly first-preference plurality (FPP) usually favor candidates of larger parties. A Common argument for mixed-member majoritarian implementations of parallel voting is an effective bonus for certain parties. Some properties of other mixed systems such as so called the "winner compensation" element of Hungarian electoral system have been criticized for being effectively just a majority bonus disguised as compensation.[2] Overhang seats in systems using the mixed-member proportional principle are also effectively bonus seats for certain parties.
The majority bonus system was adopted by other European countries, especially Greece in 2004, and France and Italy for regional and municipal elections.
| Andorra | local elections | plurality bonus | 50% | |||
| Greece | national elections (legislative) | plurality bonus | 16.66% | Not used in May 2023 but restored as of June 2023.[3] | ||
| France | French Polynesia | majority bonus (two-round) | 1-4 seats per district (23%-29%) | Used in multi-member districts, but the majority bonus in all districts is given to the same party. | ||
| municipal elections (above 3500 inhabitants) | majority bonus (two-round) | 1982 | 50% | If the leading party gets 50% of the vote, they get half the seats and the other half are distributed proportionally (leading party gets at least 75% in total). If no party gets 50% there is a second round (with all parties above 10% contesting) and the winner of the second round gets the bonus 50%. | ||
| Italy | regional elections | plurality bonus (supermixed) | 20% | 2 ballots (votes), ticket splitting is allowed, second ballot (one used for bonus) is also used for electing the regional presidency.[4] |
Benito Mussolini was the first politician to enact a law to give automatic seats to the winning party and ensured his victory in the 1924 Italian general election. This was a majority jackpot system, a precursor to the majority bonus system.
Book: Caciagli . Mario . Italian Politics: Emerging Themes and Institutional Responses . Alan S. Zuckerman . Istituto Carlo Cattaneo . Berghahn Books . 2001 . 87–89.