독일 연방선거법상 비례대표의석배분에 대한 실무적 이해와 그 수용방안의 모색

This article examines how proportional representation seats are apportioned in practice under the Federal Electoral Law of Germany (“FELG”), and on this basis contemplates ways to improve the proportional representation seat apportionment in the election of National Assembly Members under the Public Official Election Act of Korea (“POEK”). According to FELG, proportional representation seats are apportioned according to the iterative method of Sainte-Laguë/Schepers methods. This iterative method is understood to be the best mathematical method to apportion seats for proportional representation from the perspective of equality of the success ratio of votes. The proportional representation seat apportionment method under FELG is called the “mixed member proportional representation (MMP),” which is considered to demonstrate better alignment between a party’s share of votes and share of seats than the “mixed member majoritarian (MMM)” under POEK. The only issue with the MMP under FELG is that there are many overhang seats arising from the linkage between constituency seats and proportional representation seats in determining electoral winners, with the constituency seats taking precedence. The overhang seats give rise to misalignment between a party’s share of votes and share of seats, which FELG resolves by creating compensatory seats. Based on the electoral system under FELG, this article proposes a revision of POEK adopting a regional proportional representation system, under which the entire nation would be divided into five regions, and 150 seats out of a total of 300 National Assembly seats would be apportioned by region in accordance with the party’s nationwide share of votes. In adopting the system, this article proposes to recognize overhang seats along the lines of FELG.