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Welcome to the European Parliamentary Research Service podcast on the Daunt Method.

Ever heard of the Don't Method?

If you haven't, pay attention because it will largely determine the seat distribution of the next European Parliament,

as well as key leadership positions in the European Parliament, like the

heads of committees and delegations. Stay with us.

When political campaigns are over and elector's votes have been counted in all member states,

it's signed to allocate the seats to candidates. But what's the magic formula? Well, there are

several, but the most commonly used in Europe

is d'aunt. This formula, or highest average method, is named after a Belgian lawyer and

mathematician from the 1880s who sought to accommodate the different linguistic groups and political

traditions in the Belgian parliament. Under this method, each party's total number of votes is

repeatedly divided until all seats

are filled by the divisor one plus the number of seats already allocated.

So as the divisor becomes bigger, the party's total and succeeding rounds get smaller, allowing

parties with fewer votes to gain seats.

This formula is used widely in proportional representation systems, although it leads to less proportional results than other systems, such as the Hara Niemeier and Sandlag Escapers methods.

It also tends to increase the advantage for the parties with most votes, to the detriment of those that got fewer.

On the other hand, this facilitates the formation of majorities, ensuring better functioning parliaments.

So with all its pros and cons, how widely used as don't for the European elections? Well, EU member states are free to choose the electoral formula for the allocation of the share

of seats in the European Parliament as long as it ensures proportional representation,

and 16 of the 28 have so far used don't.

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