(Dutch: see below)



Victor D’Hondt (Ghent) as a pioneer of proportinal democracy

For political scientists, the “method D’Hondt” is a household name in electoral research. Fewer people are aware of the fact that the name refers to Victor D’Hondt (1841-1901), a professor of Law and Mathematics at the University of Ghent (Belgium). D’Hondt was not just a very prominent scientist and one of the leading professor at this university, he also was a strong proponent in efforts to make Belgian democracy more effective. Like many other countries, Belgium at that time still had majority elections, with as a result that large groups of the population simply were not represented in Parliament. As part of his engagement for more democracy, D’Hondt developed a system of electoral quota, leading to a proportional division of seats in Parliament.

This was developed in his 1882 book “Système pratique et raisonné de représentation proportionnelle”.

This became known as the system-D’Hondt, that was soon implemented in Belgium and in numerous other countries, like Argentina, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, Israel, Japan, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Turkey (Farrell, 2011). Thanks to this system, it is possible that Parliaments, all over the world, represent the preferences of the people in a proportional manner. Free and fair elections are the most defining characteristic of a real democracy. One should not forget, however, that this also requires the 'software' of good electoral rules and Victor D'Hondt was certainly a pioneer in this regard. In the history of the long struggle for more and better functioning democracy in the world, his name should not be forgotten.

