Paradoxically, an electoral system based on proportional representation, which led to Mr Prodi's unwieldy nine-party coalition, has produced something resembling a two-party legislature familiar in America or Britain.

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Under the country's sometimes baffling electoral system, based on proportional representation, she will be replaced by someone from New Zealand First.

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Instead, he was ready to discuss with Mr Veltroni a new electoral system along German lines: proportional representation, with a threshold for parliament.

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It was in 2004 that Colorado Democrats recognized that they could take a major step towards locking in the state for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry if they could succeed in scraping their own winner-take-all system and bring proportional representation to the electoral vote in Colorado.

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Israel would have to consider its electoral laws and weigh the prospect of moving from a proportional representation system to a direct, district system.

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In Congress, it should be the largest party in the lower house (despite the electronic vote, the Electoral Tribunal takes several days to confirm the allocation of seats under Brazil's complicated proportional representation system).

ECONOMIST: Brazil's presidential election