Turkeys in an overcrowded factory farm

Turkeys in an overcrowded factory farm

Portugal recently held parliamentary elections , and they yielded onesurprising result: A little-known party won a single seat with just 1.4 percent of the national vote— the Party for Animals and Nature . As you might guess from the name, the party is devoted to the cause of animal rights, and it's only the second such party to win seats in a national parliament in Europe: The Netherlands' Party for the Animals holds two seats in the Dutch parliament.

But these kinds of seemingly unexpected results actually have a simple root cause: Proportional representation, where parties win seats in proportion to the popular vote. Without the pressures of a two-party system, which requires voters to hold their nose for the candidate they dislike the least, proportional representation allows voters to vote for their favorite candidate or party. (In Portugal, this is accomplished through the use of voting districts that elect multiple members of parliament, unlike our single-member House districts here.)

This multi-party system typically leads to several sizable parties who take positions on a wide range of issues. However, sometimes parties with very microscopic support can win representation and give a voice to their issues, which would otherwise be ignored. If they win enough seats, they can sometimes play a critical role when the larger parties have to form a governing coalition.

Now both Portugal and the Netherlands will have members of parliament dedicated to the cause of animal welfare, and one can only imagine which diverse—but usually ignored—viewpoints might be heard if the U.S. adopted such a system. As Americans, it would be hard to imagine electing a representative, like Holland's Marianne Thieme, who ends all her floor speeches by calling for an end to factory farms like the one seen in the photo above.