title: Proportional representation

text: The single transferable vote is an older method than party-list PR, and it does not need to formally involve parties in the election process. Instead of parties putting forward ordered lists of candidates, it is the voters themselves who rank the candidates. This is done using a preferential ballot. STV can be used for nonpartisan elections such as the city council of Cambridge, Massachusetts.


title: Proportional representation

text: Counting votes under STV in a realistic election scenario is complicated, but a simplified example can show how proportionality is achieved in a district with 4 seats. In reality, districts need to be larger to truly achieve proportionality, but not so large that there are too many candidates for voters to rank. In this example each candidate belongs to a party and for a candidate to be elected, they need to earn more than 25% of the votes (this is called a "quota", more specifically the Droop quota. Note that it is impossible for 4 candidates to all get more than 25% of the votes. In the first step, the first preferences (favourite candidates) of all the voters are counted and all candidates who pass the quota are elected.


title: Proportional representation

text: Next, the votes the candidates received above the quota (surplus votes that they did not need to get elected) are transferred to the next preferences of the voters who voted for them. For the example we suppose that all voters of Joe Smith prefer John Citizen as their second choice (as he is also from Party A) and all voters of Fred Rubble prefer Mary Hill as their second choice (as she is also from Party B). Based on this we reallocate the votes and find that John Citizen has passed the quota and so got elected to the 3rd and last seat that we had to fill.


title: Proportional representation

text: Mixed Member Proportional Representation combines election of district members with election of additional members as compensatory top-up.


title: Proportional representation

text: Often MMDP systems use single-member districts to elect district members. (Denmark uses multi-member districts in its MMP system). MMP with SMDs is described here.


title: Proportional representation

text: The mixed-member proportional system combines single member plurality voting (SMP), also known as first-past-the-post (FPTP), with party-list PR in a way that the overall result of the election is supposed to be proportional. The voter may vote for a district candidate as well as a party. The main idea behind MMP is "compensation", meaning that the list-PR seat allocation is not independent of the results of the district level voting. First-past-the-post is a single winner system and cannot be proportional (winner-takes-all), so these disproportionalities are compensated by the party-list component.


title: Proportional representation

text: A simple, yet common version of MMP has as many list-PR seats as there are single-member districts. In the example it can be seen, as is often the case in reality, that the results of the districts elections are highly disproportional: large parties typically win more seats than they would under a simple list-PR system, but a party that won more votes than another party might not win more seats.


title: Proportional representation

text: MMP gives only as many compensatory seats to a party as they need to have the number of seats of each party be proportional. Another way to say this is that MMP focuses on making the final outcome proportional.


title: Proportional representation

text: Compare this to parallel voting, which is a mixed-member "majoritarian" system: here the party-list PR seat allocation is "independent" of the district results, meaning that there is "no compensation". The popular vote, the number of districts won by each party, and the number of districts and party-list PR seats are all the same, yet the total number of seats is different.


title: Proportional representation

text: The overall results are not proportional, but semi-proportional. This shows that for a mixed system to be proportional, it has to be compensatory. There are many versions of MMP in use. Some use only a single vote, some allocate compensatory seats to best losers, and some use levelling seats to compensate for potential overhang seats.


title: Proportional representation

text: The case for a Single Transferrable Vote system, a form of proportional representation, was made by John Stuart Mill in his 1861 essay "Considerations on Representative Government":


title: Proportional representation

text: Mill's essay does not support Party-based Proportional Representation and may indicate a distaste for the ills of Party-based systems in saying:Of all modes in which a national representation can possibly be constituted, this one affords the best security for the intellectual qualifications desirable in the representatives. At present, by universal admission, it is becoming more and more difficult for any one who has only talents and character to gain admission into the House of Commons. The only persons who can get elected are those who possess local influence, or make their way by lavish expenditure, or who, on the invitation of three or four tradesmen or attorneys, are sent down by one of the two great parties from their London clubs, as men whose votes the party can depend on under all circumstances.Many political theorists agree with Mill that in a representative democracy the representatives should represent all substantial segments of society but want reform rather than abolition of direct local community representation in the legislature.


title: Proportional representation

text: STV and the Additional-Member system both produce local area representation and overall PR through mixed, balanced representation at the district level.


title: Proportional representation

text: PR tries to resolve the unfairness of majoritarian and plurality voting systems where the largest parties receive an "unfair" seat bonus and smaller parties are disadvantaged, always under-represented, and on occasion win no representation at all (Duverger's law). An established party in UK elections can win majority control of the House of Commons with as little as 35% of votes (2005 UK general election). In certain Canadian elections, majority governments have been formed by parties with the support of under 40% of votes cast (2011 Canadian election, 2015 Canadian election). If turnout levels in the electorate are less than 60%, such outcomes allow a party to form a majority government by convincing as few as one quarter of the electorate to vote for it. In the 2005 UK election, for example, the Labour Party under Tony Blair won a comfortable parliamentary majority with the votes of only 21.6% of the total electorate. Such misrepresentation has been criticized as "no longer a question of 'fairness' but of elementary rights of citizens". However, intermediate PR systems with a high electoral threshold, or other features that reduce proportionality, are not necessarily much fairer: in the 2002 Turkish general election, using an open list system with a 10% threshold, 46% of votes were wasted.


title: Proportional representation

text: Plurality/majoritarian systems also benefit regional parties that win many seats in the region where they have a strong following but have little support nationally, while other parties with national support that is not concentrated in specific districts, like the Greens, win few or no seats. An example is the Bloc Québécois in Canada that won 52 seats in the 1993 federal election, all in Quebec, on 13.5% of the national vote, while the Progressive Conservatives collapsed to two seats on 16% spread nationally. The Conservative party although strong nationally had had very strong regional support in the West but in this election its supporters in the West turned to the Reform party, which won most of its seats west of Saskatchewan and none east of Manitoba. Similarly, in the 2015 UK General Election, the Scottish National Party gained 56 seats, all in Scotland, with a 4.7% share of the national vote while the UK Independence Party, with 12.6%, gained only a single seat.


title: Proportional representation

text: The use of multiple-member districts enables a greater variety of candidates to be elected. Having more representatives per district and lowering the percentage of votes required for election allows more minor parties to gain representation. It has been argued that in emerging democracies, inclusion of minorities in the legislature can be essential for social stability and to consolidate the democratic process.


title: Proportional representation

text: Critics, on the other hand, claim this can give extreme parties a foothold in parliament, sometimes cited as a cause for the collapse of the Weimar government. With very low thresholds, very small parties can act as "king-makers", holding larger parties to ransom during coalition discussions. The example of Israel is often quoted, but these problems can be limited, as in the modern German Bundestag, by the introduction of higher threshold limits for a party to gain parliamentary representation (which in turn increases the number of wasted votes).


title: Proportional representation

text: Another criticism is that the dominant parties in plurality/majoritarian systems, often looked on as "coalitions" or as "broad churches", can fragment under PR as the election of candidates from smaller groups becomes possible. Israel, Brazil, and Italy (until 1993) are examples. However, research shows, in general, there is only a small increase in the number of parties in parliament (although small parties have larger representation) under PR.


title: Proportional representation

text: Open list systems and STV, the only prominent PR system which does not require political parties, enable independent candidates to be elected. In Ireland, on average, about six independent candidates have been elected each parliament.


title: Proportional representation

text: This can lead to a situation where forming a Parliamentary majority requires support of one or more of these independent representatives. In some cases these independents have positions that are closely aligned with the governing party and it hardly matters. The Irish Government formed after the 2016 election even included independent representatives in the cabinet of a minority government. In others, the electoral platform is entirely local and addressing this is a price for support.


title: Proportional representation

text: The election of smaller parties gives rise to one of the principal objections to PR systems, that they almost always result in coalition governments.


title: Proportional representation

text: Supporters of PR see coalitions as an advantage, forcing compromise between parties to form a coalition at the centre of the political spectrum, and so leading to continuity and stability. Opponents counter that with many policies compromise is not possible. Neither can many policies be easily positioned on the left-right spectrum (for example, the environment). So policies are horse-traded during coalition formation, with the consequence that voters have no way of knowing which policies will be pursued by the government they elect; voters have less influence on governments. Also, coalitions do not necessarily form at the centre, and small parties can have excessive influence, supplying a coalition with a majority only on condition that a policy or policies favoured by few voters is/are adopted. Most importantly, the ability of voters to vote a party in disfavour out of power is curtailed.


title: Proportional representation

text: All these disadvantages, the PR opponents contend, are avoided by two-party plurality systems. Coalitions are rare; the two dominant parties necessarily compete at the centre for votes, so that governments are more reliably moderate; the strong opposition necessary for proper scrutiny of government is assured; and governments remain sensitive to public sentiment because they can be, and are, regularly voted out of power. However, this is not necessarily so; a two-party system can result in a "drift to extremes", hollowing out the centre, or, at least, in one party drifting to an extreme. The opponents of PR also contend that coalition governments created under PR are less stable, and elections are more frequent. Italy is an often-cited example with many governments composed of many different coalition partners. However, Italy is unusual in that both its houses can make a government fall, whereas other PR nations have either just one house or have one of their two houses be the core body supporting a government. Italy's current parallel voting system is not PR, so Italy is not an appropriate candidate for measuring the stability of PR.


title: Proportional representation

text: Plurality systems usually result in single-party-majority government because generally fewer parties are elected in large numbers under FPTP compared to PR, and FPTP compresses politics to little more than two-party contests. Relatively few votes in a few of the most finely balanced districts, the "swing seats", are able to swing majority control in the house. Incumbents in less evenly divided districts are invulnerable to slight swings of political mood. In the UK, for example, about half the constituencies have always elected the same party since 1945; in the 2012 US House elections 45 districts (10% of all districts) were uncontested by one of the two dominant parties. Voters who know their preferred candidate will not win have little incentive to vote, and even if they do their votes have no effect, although they are still counted in the popular vote calculation.


title: Proportional representation

text: With PR, there are no "swing seats". Most votes contribute to the election of a candidate, so parties need to campaign in all districts, not just those where their support is strongest or where they perceive most advantage. This fact in turn encourages parties to be more responsive to voters, producing a more "balanced" ticket by nominating more women and minority candidates. On average about 8% more women are elected.


title: Proportional representation

text: Since most votes count, there are fewer "wasted votes", so voters, aware that their vote can make a difference, are more likely to make the effort to vote, and less likely to vote tactically. Compared to countries with plurality electoral systems, voter turnout improves and the population is more involved in the political process. However, some experts argue that transitioning from plurality to PR only increases voter turnout in geographical areas associated with safe seats under the plurality system; turnout may decrease in areas formerly associated with swing seats.


title: Proportional representation

text: To ensure approximately equal representation, plurality systems are dependent on the drawing of boundaries of their single-member districts, a process vulnerable to political interference (gerrymandering). To compound the problem, boundaries have to be periodically re-drawn to accommodate population changes. Even apolitically drawn boundaries can unintentionally produce the effect of gerrymandering, reflecting naturally occurring concentrations.


title: Proportional representation

text: PR systems with their multiple-member districts are less prone to this research suggests five-seat districts or larger are immune to gerrymandering.


title: Proportional representation

text: Equality of size of multiple-member districts is not important (the number of seats can vary) so districts can be aligned with historical territories of varying sizes such as cities, counties, states, or provinces. Later population changes can be accommodated by simply adjusting the number of representatives elected. For example, Professor Mollison in his 2010 plan for STV for the UK divided the country into 143 districts and then allocated a different number of seats to each district (to equal the existing total of 650) depending on the number of voters in each but with wide ranges (his five-seat districts include one with 327,000 voters and another with 382,000 voters). His district boundaries follow historical county and local authority boundaries, yet he achieves more uniform representation than does the Boundary Commission, the body responsible for balancing the UK's first-past-the-post constituency sizes.


title: Proportional representation

text: Mixed member systems are susceptible to gerrymandering for the local seats that remain a part of such systems. Under parallel voting, a semi-proportional system, there is no compensation for the effects that such gerrymandering might have. Under MMP, the use of compensatory list seats makes gerrymandering less of an issue. However, its effectiveness in this regard depends upon the features of the system, including the size of the regional districts, the relative share of list seats in the total, and opportunities for collusion that might exist. A striking example of how the compensatory mechanism can be undermined can be seen in the 2014 Hungarian parliamentary election, where the leading party, Fidesz, combined gerrymandering and decoy lists, which resulted in a two-thirds parliamentary majority from a 45% vote. This illustrates how certain implementations of mixed systems (if non-compensatory or insufficiently compensatory) can produce moderately proportional outcomes, similar to parallel voting.


title: Proportional representation

text: It is generally accepted that a particular advantage of plurality electoral systems such as first past the post, or majoritarian electoral systems such as the alternative vote, is the geographic link between representatives and their constituents. A notable disadvantage of PR is that, as its multiple-member districts are made larger, this link is weakened. In party list PR systems without delineated districts, such as the Netherlands and Israel, the geographic link between representatives and their constituents is considered weak, but has shown to play a role for some parties. Yet with relatively small multiple-member districts, in particular with STV, there are counter-arguments: about 90% of voters can consult a representative they voted for, someone whom they might think more sympathetic to their problem. In such cases it is sometimes argued that constituents and representatives have a closer link; constituents have a choice of representative so they can consult one with particular expertise in the topic at issue. With multiple-member districts, prominent candidates have more opportunity to be elected in their home constituencies, which they know and can represent authentically. There is less likely to be a strong incentive to parachute them into constituencies in which they are strangers and thus less than ideal representatives. Mixed-member PR systems incorporate single-member districts to preserve the link between constituents and representatives. However, because up to half the parliamentary seats are list rather than district seats, the districts are necessarily up to twice as large as with a plurality/majoritarian system where all representatives serve single-member districts.


title: Proportional representation

text: An interesting case occurred in the Netherlands, when "out of the blue" a party for the elderly, the General Elderly Alliance gained six seats in the 1994 election. The other parties had not paid attention, but this made them aware. With the next election, the Party of the Elderly was gone, because the established parties had started to listen to the elderly. Today, a party for older folks, 50PLUS, has established itself in the Netherlands, albeit never with the same high number of seats. This can be seen as an example how geography in itself may not be a good enough reason to establish voting results around it and overturn all other particulars of the voting population. In a sense, voting in districts restricts the voters to a specific geography. Proportional voting follows the exact outcome of all the votes.


title: Proportional representation

text: In a presidential system, the president is chosen independently from the parliament. As a consequence, it is possible to have a divided government where a parliament and president have opposing views and may want to balance each other's influence. However, the proportional system favors government of coalitions of many smaller parties that require compromising and negotiating topics. As a consequence, these coalitions might have difficulties presenting a united front to counter presidential influence, leading to a lack of balance between these two powers. With a proportionally elected House, a President may strong-arm certain political issues


title: Proportional representation

text: This issue does not happen in a parliamentary system, where the prime-minister is elected indirectly by the parliament itself. As a consequence, a divided government is impossible. Even if the political views change with time and the prime minister loses their support from parliament, they can be replaced with a motion of no confidence. Effectively, both measures make it impossible to create a divided government.


title: Proportional representation

text: Academics agree that the most important influence on proportionality is an electoral district's magnitude, the number of representatives elected from the district. As magnitude increases, proportionality improves. Some scholars recommend for STV voting districts of roughly four to eight seats, which are considered small relative to PR systems in general, which frequently have district magnitudes in the hundreds.


title: Proportional representation

text: At one extreme, the binomial electoral system used in Chile between 1989 and 2013, a nominally proportional open-list system, features two-member districts. As this system can be expected to result in the election of one candidate from each of the two dominant political blocks in most districts, it is not generally considered proportional.


title: Proportional representation

text: At the other extreme, where the district encompasses the entire country (and with a low minimum threshold, highly proportionate representation of political parties can result), parties gain by broadening their appeal by nominating more minority and women candidates.


title: Proportional representation

text: After the introduction of STV in Ireland in 1921, district magnitudes slowly diminished as more and more three-member constituencies were defined, benefiting the dominant Fianna Fáil, until 1979 when an independent boundary commission was established reversing the trend. In 2010, a parliamentary constitutional committee recommended a minimum magnitude of four. Despite relatively low magnitudes, Ireland has generally experienced highly proportional results.


title: Proportional representation

text: In the FairVote plan for STV (which FairVote calls "choice voting") for the US House of Representatives, three- to five-member super-districts are proposed.


title: Proportional representation

text: In Professor Mollison's plan for STV in the UK, four- and five-member districts are mostly used, with three and six seat districts used as necessary to fit existing boundaries, and even two and single member districts used where geography dictates.


title: Proportional representation

text: The electoral threshold is the minimum vote required to win one seat. The lower the threshold, the higher the proportion of votes contributing to the election of representatives and the lower the proportion of votes wasted.


title: Proportional representation

text: All electoral systems have electoral thresholds, either formally defined or the natural threshold, which is the mathematical consequence of the district magnitude and election parameters.


title: Proportional representation

text: A formal threshold usually requires parties to win a certain percentage of the vote in order to be awarded seats from the party lists. In Germany and New Zealand (both MMP), the threshold is 5% of the national vote but the threshold is not applied to parties that win a minimum number of constituency seats (three in Germany, one in New Zealand). Turkey defines a threshold of 10%, the Netherlands 0.67%. Israel has raised its threshold from 1% (before 1992) to 1.5% (up to 2004), 2% (in 2006) and 3.25% in 2014. South Africa has no explicit electoral threshold, only a natural threshold ~0.2%. A list of electoral thresholds by country shows a typical electoral threshold for party-list PR is 3-5%.


title: Proportional representation

text: In STV elections, winning the quota (ballots/(seats+1)) of first preference votes assures election. However, well regarded candidates who attract good second (and third, etc.) preference support can hope to win election with only half the quota of first preference votes. Thus, in a six-seat district the effective threshold would be 7.14% of first preference votes (100/(6+1)/2). For a district magnitude of 3, the STV electoral threshold is 12.5 %, significantly higher than typical party-list PR. The need to attract second preferences tends to promote consensus and disadvantage extremes. The electoral threshold has different effects on STV than on Party-list PR. For STV the votes for candidates below natural threshold are not wasted, but transferred to the next-indicated choice. For party-list PR a vote for a party below electoral threshold is an unrepresented vote, unless the spare vote system is applied.


title: Proportional representation

text: Party magnitude is the number of candidates elected from one party in one district. As party magnitude increases a more balanced ticket will be more successful encouraging parties to nominate women and minority candidates for election.


title: Proportional representation

text: But under STV, nominating too many candidates can be counter-productive, splitting the first-preference votes and allowing the candidates to be eliminated before receiving transferred votes from other parties. An example of this was identified in a ward in the 2007 Scottish local elections where Labour, putting up three candidates, won only one seat while they might have won two had one of their voters' preferred candidates not stood. The same effect may have contributed to the collapse of Fianna Fáil in the 2011 Irish general election.


title: Proportional representation

text: Other aspects of PR can influence proportionality such as the size of the elected body, the choice of open or closed lists, ballot design, and vote counting methods.


title: Proportional representation

text: Exact proportionality has a single unambiguous definition: the seat shares must exactly equal the vote shares. When this condition is violated, the allocation is disproportional, and it may be interesting to examine the "degree" of disproportionality – the degree to which the number of seats won by each party differs from that of a perfectly proportional outcome. This degree does not have a single unambiguous definition. Some common disproportionality indexes are:


title: Proportional representation

text: The disproportionality changes from one election to another depending on voter behavior and size of effective electoral threshold, here shown is the unrepresented vote for New Zealand. In 2005 New Zealand general election every party above 1% got seats due to the electoral threshold in New Zealand of at least one seat in first-past-the-post voting, which caused a much lower unrepresented vote compared to the other years.


title: Proportional representation

text: Different indexes measure different concepts of disproportionality. Some disproportionality concepts have been mapped to social welfare functions.


title: Proportional representation

text: Disproportionality indexes are sometimes used to evaluate existing and proposed electoral systems. For example, the Canadian Parliament's 2016 Special Committee on Electoral Reform recommended that a system be designed to achieve "a Gallagher score of 5 or less". This indicated a much lower degree of disproportionality than observed in the 2015 Canadian election under first-past-the-post voting, where the Gallagher index was 12.


title: Proportional representation

text: The common indexes (Loosemore–Hanby, Gallagher, Sainte-Laguë) do not support ranked voting. An alternative that does support it is the Droop proportionality criterion (DPC). It requires that if, for some set "M" of candidates, there exist more than "k" Droop quotas of voters who rank them at the top |"M"| positions, then at least "k" candidates from "M" are elected. In the special case in which voters vote solely by party, DPC implies proportionality.


title: Proportional representation

text: Party list proportional representation is an electoral system in which seats are first allocated to parties based on vote share, and then assigned to party-affiliated candidates on the parties' electoral lists. This system is used in many countries, including Finland (open list), Latvia (open list), Sweden (open list), Israel (national closed list), Brazil (open list), Nepal (closed list) as adopted in 2008 in first CA election, the Netherlands (open list), Russia (closed list), South Africa (closed list), Democratic Republic of the Congo (open list), and Ukraine (open list). For elections to the European Parliament, most member states use open lists; but most large EU countries use closed lists, so that the majority of EP seats are distributed by those. Local lists were used to elect the Italian Senate during the second half of the 20th century. Some common types of electoral lists are:


title: Proportional representation

text: There are mixed electoral systems combining a plurality/majority formula with a proportional formula or using the proportional component to compensate for disproportionality caused by the plurality/majority component.


title: Proportional representation

text: The most prominent mixed compensatory system is mixed member proportional representation (MMP). It combines a single-district vote, usually first-past-the-post, with a compensatory regional or nationwide party list proportional vote. For example, suppose that a party wins 10 seats based on plurality, but requires 15 seats in total to obtain its proportional share of an elected body. A fully proportional mixed compensatory system would award this party 5 compensatory (PR) seats, raising the party's seat count from 10 to 15. MMP has the potential to produce proportional or moderately proportional election outcomes, depending on a number of factors such as the ratio of FPTP seats to PR seats, the existence or nonexistence of extra compensatory seats to make up for overhang seats, and electoral thresholds. It was invented for the German Bundestag after the Second World War, and has spread to Lesotho, Bolivia, New Zealand and Thailand. The system is also used for the Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament where it is called the additional member system.


title: Proportional representation

text: Voters typically have two votes, one for their district representative and one for the party list. The list vote usually determines how many seats are allocated to each party in parliament. After the district winners have been determined, sufficient candidates from each party list are elected to "top-up" each party to the overall number of parliamentary seats due to it according to the party's overall list vote. Before apportioning list seats, all list votes for parties which failed to reach the threshold are discarded. If eliminated parties lose seats in this manner, then the seat counts for parties that achieved the threshold improve. Any direct seats won by independent candidates are subtracted from the parliamentary total used to apportion list seats.


title: Proportional representation

text: Proportionality of MMP can be compromised if the ratio of list to district seats is too low, as it may then not be possible to completely compensate district seat disproportionality. Another factor can be how overhang seats are handled, district seats that a party wins in excess of the number due to it under the list vote. To achieve proportionality, other parties require "balance seats", increasing the size of parliament by twice the number of overhang seats, but this is not always done. Until recently, Germany increased the size of parliament by the number of overhang seats but did not use the increased size for apportioning list seats. This was changed for the 2013 national election after the constitutional court rejected the previous law, not compensating for overhang seats had resulted in a negative vote weight effect. Lesotho, Scotland and Wales do not increase the size of parliament at all, and, in 2012, a New Zealand parliamentary commission also proposed abandoning compensation for overhang seats, and so fixing the size of parliament. At the same time, it would abolish the single-seat threshold any such seats would then be overhang seats and would otherwise have increased the size of parliament further and reduce the electoral threshold from 5% to 4%. Proportionality would not suffer.


title: Proportional representation

text: Similarly to MMP, mixed single vote systems (MSV) use a proportional formula for allocating seats on the compensatory tier, but voters only have one vote that functions on both levels. MSV may use a positive vote transfer system, where unused votes are transferred from the lower tier to the upper, compensatory tier, where only these are used in the proportional formula. Alternatively, the MMP (seat linkage) algorithm can be used with a mixed single vote to "top-up" to a proportional result. With MSV, the similar requirements as in MMP apply to guarantee an overall proportional result.


title: Proportional representation

text: Parallel voting (MMM) systems use proportional formulas to allocate seats on a proportional tier separately from other tiers. Certain systems, like scorporo use a proportional formula after combining results of a parallel list vote with transferred votes from lower tiers (using negative or positive vote transfer).


title: Proportional representation

text: Another mixed system is dual-member proportional representation (DMP). It is a single-vote system that elects two representatives in every district. The first seat in each district is awarded to the candidate who wins a plurality of the votes, similar to FPTP voting. The remaining seats are awarded in a compensatory manner to achieve proportionality across a larger region. DMP employs a formula similar to the "best near-winner" variant of MMP used in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. In Baden-Württemberg, compensatory seats are awarded to candidates who receive high levels of support at the district level compared with other candidates of the same party. DMP differs in that at most one candidate per district is permitted to obtain a compensatory seat. If multiple candidates contesting the same district are slated to receive one of their parties' compensatory seats, the candidate with the highest vote share is elected and the others are eliminated. DMP is similar to STV in that all elected representatives, including those who receive compensatory seats, serve their local districts. Invented in 2013 in the Canadian province of Alberta, DMP received attention on Prince Edward Island where it appeared on a 2016 plebiscite as a potential replacement for FPTP, but was eliminated on the third round. It was also one of three proportional voting system options on a 2018 referendum in British Columbia.


title: Proportional representation

text: Biproportional apportionment aims to achieve proportionality in two dimensions, for example: proportionality by region and proportionality by party. There are several mathematical methods to attain biproportionality.


title: Proportional representation

text: One method is called iterative proportional fitting (IPF). It was proposed for elections by the mathematician Michel Balinski in 1989, and first used by the city of Zurich for its council elections in February 2006, in a modified form called "new Zurich apportionment" ("Neue Zürcher Zuteilungsverfahren"). Zurich had had to modify its party list PR system after the Swiss Federal Court ruled that its smallest wards, as a result of population changes over many years, unconstitutionally disadvantaged smaller political parties. With biproportional apportionment, the use of open party lists has not changed, but the way winning candidates are determined has. The proportion of seats due to each party is calculated according to their overall citywide vote, and then the district winners are adjusted to conform to these proportions. This means that some candidates, who would otherwise have been successful, can be denied seats in favor of initially unsuccessful candidates, in order to improve the relative proportions of their respective parties overall. This peculiarity is accepted by the Zurich electorate because the resulting city council is proportional and all votes, regardless of district magnitude, now have equal weight. The system has since been adopted by other Swiss cities and cantons.


title: Proportional representation

text: Balinski has proposed another variant called fair majority voting (FMV) to replace single-winner plurality/majoritarian electoral systems, in particular the system used for the US House of Representatives. FMV introduces proportionality without changing the method of voting, the number of seats, or thepossibly gerrymandereddistrict boundaries. Seats would be apportioned to parties in a proportional manner at the state level. In a related proposal for the UK parliament, whose elections are contested by many more parties, the authors note that parameters can be tuned to adopt any degree of proportionality deemed acceptable to the electorate. In order to elect smaller parties, a number of constituencies would be awarded to candidates placed fourth or even fifth in the constituency unlikely to be acceptable to the electorate, the authors concede but this effect could be substantially reduced by incorporating a third, regional, apportionment tier, or by specifying minimum thresholds.


title: Proportional representation

text: The single transferable vote (STV), also called ranked choice voting, is a ranked system: voters rank candidates in order of preference. Voting districts usually elect three to seven representatives; each voter casts just one vote. The count is cyclic, electing or eliminating candidates and transferring votes until all seats are filled. A candidate whose tally reaches a quota, the minimum vote that guarantees election, is declared elected. The candidate's surplus votes (those in excess of the quota) are transferred to other candidates at a fraction of their value proportionate to the surplus, according to the voters' preferences. If there are no surplus votes to transfer and there are still seats to fill, the least popular candidate is eliminated, those votes being transferred to their next preference at full value. The votes are transferred according to the next marked preference. Any votes that cannot be transferred are moved to a pile labelled exhausted or non-transferable.


title: Proportional representation

text: The cont continues until all the seats are filled or until there is only one more candidate than the number of remaining open seats. At that point all of them except the least popular candidate are declared elected, even if they do not have quota.


title: Proportional representation

text: The transfer of votes of eliminated candidates is simple -- the transfer of surplus votes is more involved. There are various methods for transferring surplus votes.


title: Proportional representation

text: Manual methods used in early times and still today in places where STV was adopted in early 20th Century (Ireland and Malta) transfer surplus votes according to a randomly selected sample, or transfer only a segment of the surplus selected based on the next usable marked preference.


title: Proportional representation

text: Other more recent methods transfer all votes at a fraction of their value (the fraction derived by the surplus divided by the candidate's tally) and with reference to all the marked preferences on the ballots, not just the next usable preference. They may need the use of a computer.


title: Proportional representation

text: The different methods may not produce the same result in all respects. But the front runners in the first count before any transfers are conducted are all or mostly elected in the end, so the various methods of transfers all produce much the same result.


title: Proportional representation

text: Some variants of STV allow transfers to already elected or eliminated candidates, and these, too, can require a computer.


title: Proportional representation

text: In effect, the method produces groups of voters of much the same size so the overall effect is to reflect the diversity of the electorate, each substantial group having one or more representatives the group voted for.


title: Proportional representation

text: In Cambridge, under STV, 90 percent of voters see their vote help to elect a candidate, more than 65 percent of voters see their first choice candidate elected, and more than 95 percent of voters see one of their top three choices win.


title: Proportional representation

text: Other reports claim that 90% of voters have a representative to whom they gave their first preference. Voters can choose candidates using any criteria they wish, the proportionality is implicit.


title: Proportional representation

text: Political parties are not necessary; all other prominent PR electoral systems presume that parties reflect voters wishes, which many believe gives power to parties. STV satisfies the electoral system criterion "proportionality for solid coalitions" a solid coalition for a set of candidates is the group of voters that rank all those candidates above all others and is therefore considered a system of proportional representation.


title: Proportional representation

text: However, the small district magnitude used in STV elections (usually 5 to 9 seats, but sometimes rising to 21) has been criticized as impairing proportionality, especially when more parties compete than there are seats available, and STV has, for this reason, sometimes been labelled "quasi proportional".


title: Proportional representation

text: Even though Ireland has particularly small magnitudes (3 to 5 seats), results of STV elections are "highly proportional". In 1997, the average magnitude was 4.0 but eight parties gained representation, four of them with less than 3% of first preference votes nationally. Six independent candidates also won election.


title: Proportional representation

text: STV has also been described as the proportional system as it elects candidates without the need for parties. The influence of parties can distort proportionality.


title: Proportional representation

text: The system tends to handicap extreme candidates because, to gain transfers based on back-up preferences and so improve their chance of election, candidates need to canvass voters beyond their own circle of supporters, and so need to moderate their views.


title: Proportional representation

text: Conversely, widely respected candidates can win election even if they receive relatively few first preferences. They do this by benefiting from strong subordinate preference support. Of course, they must have enough initial support so that they are not in the bottom rung of popularity or they will be eliminated when the field of candidate is thinned.


title: Proportional representation

text: Systems can be devised that aim at proportional representation but are based on approval votes on individual candidates (not parties). Such is the idea of proportional approval voting (PAV).


title: Proportional representation

text: When there are a lot of seats to be filled, as in a legislature, counting ballots under PAV may not be feasible, so sequential variants have been used, such as sequential proportional approval voting (SPAV).


title: Proportional representation

text: Sequential proportional approval voting (SPAV) is a multi-winner voting system similar to STV in that voters can express support for multiple candidates, but different in that candidates are graded instead of ranked. That is, a voter approves or disapproves of each candidate. SPAV was used briefly in Sweden during the early 1900s.


title: Proportional representation

text: The vote counting procedure occurs in rounds. The first round of SPAV is identical to approval voting. All ballots are added with equal weight, and the candidate with the highest overall score is elected. In all subsequent rounds, ballots that support candidates who have already been elected are added with a reduced weight. Thus voters who support none of the winners in the early rounds are increasingly likely to elect one of their preferred candidates in a later round. The procedure has been shown to yield proportional outcomes especially when voters are loyal to distinct groups of candidates (e.g. political parties).


title: Proportional representation

text: Reweighted Range Voting (RRV) uses the same method as sequential proportional approval voting but uses a score ballot. Reweighted Range Voting was used for the nominations in the Visual Effects category for recent Academy Award Oscars from 2013 through 2017, and is used in the city of Berkeley, California, for sorting the priorities of the city council.


title: Proportional representation

text: In asset voting, the voters vote for candidates and then the candidates negotiate amongst each other and reallocate votes amongst themselves. Asset voting was proposed by Lewis Carroll in 1884 and has been more recently independently rediscovered and extended by Warren D. Smith and Forest Simmons. As such, this method substitutes candidates' collective preferences for those of the voters.


title: Proportional representation

text: Similar to Majority Judgment voting that elects single winners, Evaluative Proportional Representation (EPR) elects all the members of a legislative body. Both systems minimize the quantitative and qualitative wasting of votes. Each citizen grades the fitness for office of as many of the candidates as they wish as either Excellent (ideal), Very Good, Good, Acceptable, Poor, or Reject (entirely unsuitable). Multiple candidates may be given the same grade by a voter. Using EPR, each citizen elects their representative at-large for a city council. For a large and diverse state legislature, each citizen chooses to vote through any of the districts or official non-geographically defined electoral associations in the country. Each voter grades any number of candidates in the whole country. Each elected representative has a different voting power (a different number of weighted votes) in the legislative body. This number is equal to the total number of votes given exclusively to each member from all citizens. Each member's weighted vote results from receiving one of the following from each voter: their highest grade, highest remaining grade, or proxy vote. No citizen's vote is "wasted" because each citizen's vote equally adds to the voting power in the legislative body of the elected candidate they see as likely to represent their hopes and concerns most accurately. Unlike all the other proportional representation systems, each EPR voter, and each self-identifying minority or majority, is proportionally represented exactly. Also, like Majority Judgment, EPR reduces by almost half both the incentives and possibilities for voters to use Tactical Voting.


title: Proportional representation

text: One of the earliest proposals of proportionality in an assembly was by John Adams in his influential pamphlet "Thoughts on Government", written in 1776 during the American Revolution:


title: Proportional representation

text: Mirabeau, speaking to the Assembly of Provence on January 30, 1789, was also an early proponent of a proportionally representative assembly:


title: Proportional representation

text: In February 1793, the Marquis de Condorcet led the drafting of the Girondist constitution which proposed a limited voting scheme with proportional aspects. Before that could be voted on, the Montagnards took over the National Convention and produced their own constitution. On June 24, Saint-Just proposed the single non-transferable vote, which can be proportional, for national elections but the constitution was passed on the same day specifying first-past-the-post voting.


title: Proportional representation

text: Already in 1787, James Wilson, like Adams a US Founding Father, understood the importance of multiple-member districts: "Bad elections proceed from the smallness of the districts which give an opportunity to bad men to intrigue themselves into office", and again, in 1791, in his Lectures on Law: "It may, I believe, be assumed as a general maxim, of no small importance in democratical governments, that the more extensive the district of election is, the choice will be the more wise and enlightened". The 1790 Constitution of Pennsylvania specified multiple-member districts for the state Senate and required their boundaries to follow county lines.


title: Proportional representation

text: STV or more precisely, an election method where voters have one transferable vote, was first invented in 1819 by an English schoolmaster, Thomas Wright Hill, who devised a "plan of election" for the committee of the "Society for Literary and Scientific Improvement" in Birmingham that used not only transfers of surplus votes from winners but also from losers, a refinement that later both Andræ and Hare initially omitted. But the procedure was unsuitable for a public election and was not publicised. In 1839, Hill's son, Rowland Hill, recommended the concept for public elections in Adelaide, and a simple process was used in which voters formed as many groups as there were representatives to be elected, each group electing one representative.


title: Proportional representation

text: The first practical PR election method, the List Plan system, was conceived by Thomas Gilpin, a retired paper-mill owner, in a paper he read to the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia in 1844: "On the representation of minorities of electors to act with the majority in elected assemblies". It was never put into practical use, but even as late as 1914 it was put forward as a way to elect the U.S. electoral college delegates and for local elections.


title: Proportional representation

text: A practical election using the Single Transferable Vote system (a combination of preferential voting and multi-member districts) was devised in Denmark by Carl Andræ, a mathematician, and first used there in 1855, making it the oldest PR system. That system was later adopted for national elections in Malta (1921), the Republic of Ireland (1921) and Australia (1948).


title: Proportional representation

text: STV was also invented (apparently independently) in the UK in 1857 by Thomas Hare, a London barrister, in his pamphlet "The Machinery of Representation" and expanded on in his 1859 "Treatise on the Election of Representatives". The scheme was enthusiastically taken up by John Stuart Mill, ensuring international interest. The 1865 edition of the book included the transfer of preferences from dropped candidates and the STV method was essentially complete, although Hare pictured the entire British Isles as one single district. Mill proposed it to the House of Commons in 1867, but the British parliament rejected it. The name evolved from "Mr.Hare's scheme" to "proportional representation", then "proportional representation with the single transferable vote", and finally, by the end of the 19th century, to "the single transferable vote".


title: Proportional representation

text: In Australia, the political activist Catherine Helen Spence became an enthusiast of STV and an author on the subject. Through her influence and the efforts of the Tasmanian politician Andrew Inglis Clark, Tasmania became an early pioneer of the system, electing the world's first legislators through STV in 1896, prior to its federation into Australia.


title: Proportional representation

text: A party-list proportional representation system was devised and described in 1878 by Victor D'Hondt in Belgium, which became the first country to adopt list PR in 1900 for its national parliament. D'Hondt's method of seat allocation, the D'Hondt method, is still widely used. Some Swiss cantons (beginning with Ticino in 1890) used the system before Belgium. Victor Considerant, a utopian socialist, devised a similar system in an 1892 book. Many European countries adopted similar systems during or after World War I. List PR was favoured on the Continent because the use of lists in elections, the scrutin de liste, was already widespread. STV was preferred in the English-speaking world because its tradition was the election of individuals.


title: Proportional representation

text: In the UK, the 1917 Speaker's Conference recommended STV for all multi-seat Westminster constituencies, but it was only applied to university constituencies, lasting from 1918 until 1950 when those constituencies were abolished.


title: Proportional representation

text: In Ireland, STV was used in 1918 in the Dublin University constituency, and was introduced for devolved elections in 1921.


title: Proportional representation

text: STV is currently used for two national lower houses of parliament, Ireland, since independence (as the Irish Free State) in 1922, and Malta, since 1921, long before independence in 1966.


title: Proportional representation

text: In Ireland, two attempts were made by Fianna Fáil governments to abolish STV and replace it with the 'First Past the Post' plurality system. Both attempts were rejected by voters in referendums held in 1959 and again in 1968.


title: Proportional representation

text: STV is also prescribed for all other elections in Ireland including that of the presidency, although it is there effectively the alternative vote, as it is an election with a single winner.


title: Proportional representation

text: It is also used for the Northern Ireland Assembly and European and local authorities, Scottish local authorities, some New Zealand and Australian local authorities, the Tasmanian (since 1907) and Australian Capital Territory assemblies, where the method is known as "Hare-Clark", and the city council in Cambridge, Massachusetts, (since 1941).


title: Proportional representation

text: PR is used by a majority of the world's 33 most robust democracies with populations of at least two million people; only six use plurality or a majoritarian system (runoff or instant runoff) for elections to the legislative assembly, four use parallel systems, and 23 use PR. PR dominates Europe, including Germany and most of northern and eastern Europe; it is also used for European Parliament elections. France adopted PR at the end of World War II, but discarded it in 1958; it was used for parliament elections in 1986. Switzerland has the most widespread use of proportional representation, which is the system used to elect not only national legislatures and local councils, but also all local executives. PR is less common in the English-speaking world; Malta and Ireland use STV for election of legislators. Australia uses it for Senate elections. New Zealand adopted MMP in 1993. But UK, Canada and India use plurality (First Past the Post) systems for legislative elections. In Canada, STV was used to elect provincial legislators in Alberta from 1926 to 1955, and in Manitoba from 1920 to 1953. In both provinces the alternative vote (AV) was used in rural areas. First-past-the-post was re-adopted in Alberta by the dominant party for reasons of political advantage. In Manitoba a principal reason was the underrepresentation of Winnipeg in the provincial legislature.


title: Proportional representation

text: STV has some history in the United States. Between 1915 and 1962, twenty-four cities used the system for at least one election. In many cities, minority parties and other groups used STV to break up single-party monopolies on elective office. One of the most famous cases is New York City, where a coalition of Republicans and others pursued the adoption of STV in 1936 as part of an effort to free the city from control by the Tammany Hall machine. Another famous case is Cincinnati, Ohio, where, in 1924, Democrats and Progressive-wing Republicans secured the adoption of a council-manager charter with STV elections in order to dislodge the Republican machine of Rudolph K. Hynicka. Although Cincinnati's council-manager system survives, Republicans and other disaffected groups replaced STV with plurality-at-large voting in 1957. From 1870 to 1980, Illinois used a semi-proportional cumulative voting system to elect its House of Representatives. Each district across the state elected both Republicans and Democrats year-after-year.


title: Proportional representation

text: Cambridge, Massachusetts (STV), and Peoria, Illinois (cumulative voting), have used PR for many years now.


title: Proportional representation

text: San Francisco (before 1977 and 1980–1999) had citywide elections in which people cast votes for as many as nine candidates, but usually five or six candidates, simultaneously (block voting), delivering some of the benefits of proportional representation through the use of a multi-member district. San Francisco used preferential voting (Bucklin Voting) in its 1917 city election.


title: Proportional representation

text: Eighty-five countries in the world use a proportional electoral system to fill a nationally elected legislative body.


title: Proportional representation

text: The table below lists those countries and gives information on the specific PR system that is in use.


title: Proportional representation

text: Detailed information on electoral systems applying to the first chamber of the legislature is maintained by the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network. Countries using PR as part of a mixed-member majoritarian (e.g. parallel voting) system are not included.


title: Proportional representation

text: Changing the electoral system requires the agreement of a majority of the currently selected legislators, who were chosen using the incumbent electoral system. Therefore, an interesting question is what incentives make current legislators support a new electoral system, particularly a PR system.


title: Proportional representation

text: Many political scientists argue that PR was adopted by parties on the right as a strategy to survive amid suffrage expansion, democratization and the rise of workers' parties. According to Stein Rokkan in a seminal 1970 study, parties on the right opted to adopt PR as a way to survive as competitive parties in situations when the parties on the right were not united enough to exist under majoritarian systems. This argument was formalized and supported by Carles Boix in a 1999 study. Amel Ahmed notes that prior to the adoption of PR, many electoral systems were based on majority or plurality rule, and that these systems risked eradicating parties on the right in areas where the working class was large in numbers. He therefore argues that parties on the right adopted PR as a way to ensure that they would survive as potent political forces amid suffrage expansion. A 2021 study linked the adoption of PR to incumbent fears of revolutionary threats.


title: Proportional representation

text: In contrast, other scholars argue that the choice to adopt PR was also due to a demand by parties on the left to ensure a foothold in politics, as well as to encourage a consensual system that would help the left realize its preferred economic policies.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: The M1903 Springfield, officially the United States Rifle, Caliber .30-06, Model 1903, is an American five-round magazine-fed, bolt-action service repeating rifle, used primarily during the first half of the 20th century.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: The M1903 was first used in combat during the Philippine–American War, and it was officially adopted by the United States as the standard infantry rifle on June 19, 1903, where it saw service in World War I, and was replaced by the faster-firing semi-automatic eight-round M1 Garand starting in 1936. However, the M1903 remained in service as a standard issue infantry rifle during World War II, since the U.S. entered the war without sufficient M1 rifles to arm all troops. It also remained in service as a sniper rifle during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. It remains popular as a civilian firearm, historical collector's piece, a competitive shooting rifle, and as a military drill rifle.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: During the 1898 war with Spain, the Mauser M1893 used by the Spanish Army gained a deadly reputation, particularly from the Battle of San Juan Hill, where 750 Spanish regulars significantly delayed the advance of 15,000 US troops armed with outclassed Springfield Krag–Jørgensen bolt-action rifles and older single-shot Springfield trapdoor rifles. The Spanish soldiers inflicted 1,400 casualties on the US in a matter of minutes. Likewise, earlier in the day, a Spanish force of 540 regulars armed with the same Mauser rifles, under Spanish general Vara Del Rey, held off General Henry Ware Lawton's Second Division of 6,653 American soldiers and an independent brigade of 1,800 men for ten hours in the nearby town of El Caney, keeping that division from assisting in the attack on the San Juan Heights. A US Army board of investigation was commissioned as a direct result of both battles. They recommended replacement of the Krag.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: The 1903 adoption of the M1903 was preceded by nearly 30 years of struggle and politics, using lessons learned from the recently adopted Krag–Jørgensen and contemporary German Mauser Gewehr 98 bolt-action rifles. The design itself is largely based on the Mauser M1893 and its successive models up to the Gewehr 98 rifle. The M1903's forward receiver ring diameter is , slightly over the ring diameter of the older "small ring" Mauser models and less than the "large ring" Gewehr 98s. The US military licensed many of the Mauser Company's and other German patents, including the spitzer bullet, later modified into the .30-06 Springfield. The M1903 not only replaced the various versions of the U.S. Army's Krag, but also the Lee M1895 and M1885 Remington–Lee used by the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps, as well as all remaining single-shot trapdoor rifles. While the Krag had been issued as both a long rifle and carbine, the Springfield was issued only as a short 24-inch-barrel rifle in keeping with current trends in Switzerland and Great Britain to eliminate the need for both long rifles and carbines.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: The two main problems usually cited with the Krag were its slow-to-load magazine and its inability to handle higher chamber pressures for high-velocity rounds. The United States Army attempted to introduce a higher-velocity cartridge in 1899 for the existing Krags, but its single locking lug on the bolt could not withstand the extra chamber pressure. Though a stripper-clip or charger loading modification to the Krag was designed, it was clear to Army authorities that a new rifle was required. After the U.S. military's experience with the Mauser rifle in the 1898 Spanish–American War, authorities decided to adopt a stronger Mauser-derived bolt-action design equipped with a charger- or stripper clip-loaded box magazine.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: In 1882, the bolt action Remington Lee rifle design of 1879, with its newly invented detachable box magazine, was purchased in limited numbers by the U.S. Navy. Several hundred M1882 Lee Navy models (M1882 Remington-Lee) were also subjected to trials by the U.S. Army during the 1880s, though the rifle was not formally adopted. The Navy adopted the M1885, and later different style Lee M1895 (a 6 mm straight pull bolt), which saw service in the Boxer Rebellion. In Army service, both the M1885 and M1895 6 mm Lee were used in the Spanish–American War, along with the .30-40 Krag and the .45-70. The Lee rifle's detachable box magazine was invented by James Paris Lee, and was very influential on later rifle designs. Other advancements had made it clear that the Army needed a replacement. In 1892, the U.S. military held a series of rifle trials, resulting in the adoption of the .30-40 Krag–Jørgensen rifle. The Krag officially entered U.S. service in 1894, only to be replaced nine years later by the M1903.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: Thousands of Spanish Mauser M1893 rifles, surrendered by Spanish troops in Cuba, were returned to the US and extensively studied at Springfield Armory, where it was decided that the Mauser was the superior design.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: A prototype rifle was produced in 1900; it was very similar to rifle No. 5, the final Mauser M92 prototype in the U.S. Army rifle trials of 1892. This design was rejected, and a new design combining features of the M1898 Krag rifle and the Spanish Mauser M1893 was developed.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: Springfield began work on creating a rifle that could handle higher loads around the turn of the 20th century. The Springfield Model 1901 prototype combined the cock-on-opening bolt, 30-inch barrel, magazine cutoff, stock and sights of the Krag–Jørgensen with the dual locking lugs, external claw extractor, and staggered-column magazine of the Mauser M1893. Taking a cue from the Mauser Gewehr 98, a large safety lug was added to the side of the bolt behind the extractor, which engaged the receiver bridge and prevented the bolt from moving rearwards. The bolt handle was also bent downwards, to make operation of the bolt faster. The Model 1901 almost entered production. Springfield was sure enough that the Model 1901 prototype would be accepted that they began making some parts, but it was not accepted and further changes were asked for.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: Following then-current trends in service rifles, the barrel was shortened to 24 inches after it was discovered that a longer barrel offered no appreciable ballistic advantage, and the shorter barrel was lighter and easier to handle. This "short rifle" also eliminated the need of a shorter carbine for mounted troops or cavalry. A spike-type bayonet with storage in the forend of the stock was added to the design. This new design was accepted, type classified and officially adopted as the "United States Rifle, Caliber .30, Model 1903" and entered production in 1903. The M1903 became commonly known among its users as the "ought-three" in reference to the year, 1903, of first production.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: Despite Springfield Armory's use of a two-piece firing pin and other slight design alterations, the M1903 was, in fact, a Mauser design, and after that company brought suit, the U.S. government was judged to pay $250,000 in royalties to Mauser Werke.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: By January 1905, over 80,000 of these rifles had been produced at the federally-owned Springfield Armory. However, President Theodore Roosevelt objected to the design of the sliding rod-type bayonet used as being too flimsy for combat. In a letter to the secretary of war, he said:


title: M1903 Springfield

text: I must say that I think that ramrod bayonet is about as poor an invention as I ever saw. As you observed, it broke short off as soon as hit with even moderate violence. It would have no moral effect and mighty little physical effect.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: All the rifles to that point consequently had to be re-tooled for a blade-type bayonet, called the "M1905". The sights were also an area of concern, so the new improved Model 1904 sight was also added.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: The retooling was almost complete when it was decided another change would be made. It was to incorporate improvements discovered during experimentation in the interim, most notably the use of pointed ammunition, first adopted by the French in the 1890s and later other countries. The round itself was based on the .30-03, but rather than a 220-grain (14 g) round-tip bullet fired at , it had a 150-grain (9.7 g) pointed bullet fired at ; the case neck was a fraction of an inch shorter as well. The new American cartridge was designated "Cartridge, Ball, Caliber .30, Model of 1906". The M1906 cartridge is better known as the .30-06 Springfield round, used in many rifles and machine guns, and is still a popular civilian cartridge to the present day. The rifle's sights were again re-tooled to compensate for the speed and trajectory of the new cartridge.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: By the time of the 1916 Pancho Villa Expedition, the M1903 was the standard issue service rifle of US forces. Some rifles were fitted with both the Warner & Swasey Model 1913 and 1908 "musket sights" during the campaign, "musket sights" being the vernacular at the time for telescopic sights. Anecdotal evidence at the time indicates that some of the rifles were fitted with Maxim suppressors, which would make them the first suppressed rifles used by the US military. The Warner & Swasey Model 1913 musket sight continued to see service after the Pancho Villa Expedition and during World War I but was eventually deemed inadequate and was removed from the US Army's inventory by the 1920s.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: By the time of US entry into World War I, 843,239 M1903 rifles had been produced at Springfield Armory and Rock Island Arsenal. Pre-war production utilized questionable metallurgy. Some receivers constructed of single-heat-treated case-hardened steel were improperly subjected to excessive temperatures during the forging process. The carbon could be "burnt" out of the steel, producing a brittle receiver. Despite documented evidence indicating some early rifles were improperly forged, actual cases of failure were very rare. Although several cases of serious injury from receiver failure were documented, the U.S. Army never reported any fatalities. Many failures were attributed to use of incorrect cartridges, such as the 7.92×57mm Mauser. Evidence also seems to suggest that improperly forged brass cartridge cases could have exacerbated receiver failure.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: Pyrometers were installed in December 1917 to accurately measure temperatures during the forging process. The change was made at approximately serial number 800,000 for rifles made at Springfield Armory and at serial number 285,507 at Rock Island Arsenal. Lower serial numbers are known as "low-number" M1903 rifles. Higher serial numbers are said to be "double-heat-treated".


title: M1903 Springfield

text: Toward the end of the war, Springfield turned out the Model 1903 Mark I. The Mark I has a cut on the left hand side of the receiver meant to act as an ejection port for the Pedersen device, a modified sear and cutoff to operate the Pedersen device; a specialized insert that replaced the bolt and allowed the user to fire .30 caliber pistol cartridges semi-automatically from a 40-round detachable magazine. The stock was also slightly cut down on the left side to clear the ejection port. In all other respects, the Mark I is identical to the M1903. Temperature control during forging was improved prior to Mark I production. The receiver alloy was toughened by addition of nickel after Mark I production.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: In 1926, after experiencing the effect of long-range German 7.92×57mm rifle and machine gun fire during the war, the U.S. Army adopted the heavy, 174-grain, boat-tail bullet for its .30-06 cartridge, standardized as "Cartridge, Ball, caliber 30, M1". M1 ammunition, intended primarily for long-range machine gun use, soon became known by Army rifle competition teams and expert riflemen for its considerably greater accuracy over that of the M1906-round; the new M1 ammunition was issued to infantrymen with the Springfield rifle as well as to machine gun teams. However, during the late 1930s, it became apparent that, with the development of mortars, high-angle artillery, and the .50 caliber M2 Browning machine gun, the need for extreme long-range, rifle-caliber machine-gun fire was decreasing. In 1938, the US Army reverted to a .30-06 cartridge with a 152-grain flat-base bullet, now termed "M2 ball", for all rifles and machine guns.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: In the 1920s and the 1930s, M1903s were delivered to US allies in Central America, such as Cuba, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Costa Rica troops were equipped with Springfields during the Coto War and some rifles were captured by the opposing Panamanians. The Cuban Springfields were used by Batista forces after WW2 and later by the Revolutionary Armed Forces, for instance during the Bay of Pigs Invasion.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: The Federal Bureau of Investigation acquired some M1903 rifles configured like National Rifle Association sporter models in response to the 1933 Kansas City Massacre.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: In service, the Springfield was generally prized for its reliability and accuracy, though some problems remained. The precision rear aperture sight was located too far from the eye for efficient use, and the narrow, unprotected front sight was both difficult to see in poor light and easily damaged. The Marine Corps issued the Springfield with a sight hood to protect the front sight, along with a thicker front blade. The two-piece firing pin-striker also proved to be no improvement over the original one-piece Mauser design, and was a cause of numerous ordnance repairs, along with occasional reports of jammed magazine followers.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: World War II saw new production of the Springfield at private manufacturers such as the Remington Arms and Smith-Corona Typewriter companies. Remington began production of the M1903 in September 1941, at serial number 3,000,000, using old tooling from the Rock Island Arsenal which had been in storage since 1919. The very early rifles are almost indistinguishable from 1919-made Rock Island rifles. As the already worn tooling began to wear beyond use Remington began seeking Army approval for a continuously increasing number of changes and simplifications to both speed up manufacture and improve performance. The milled parts on the Remington M1903 were gradually replaced with stamped parts until, at about serial number 3,330,000, the Army and Remington recognized that a new model name was appropriate. Other features of the M1903, such as high-grade walnut stocks with finger grooves, were replaced with less expensive but serviceable substitutes. Most milled parts made by Remington were marked with an "R".


title: M1903 Springfield

text: Production of the M1903 was discontinued in favor of the M1903A3. The most noticeable visual difference in the M1903A3 was the replacement of the barrel-mounted rear sight with a smaller, simpler aperture rear sight mounted on the rear of the receiver which was designed by Remington; it was primarily adopted in order to speed familiarization by soldiers already trained on the M1 Garand, which had a similar sighting system. However, the leaf spring providing tension to the elevation adjustment on the new aperture sight tended to weaken with continued use over time, causing the rifle to lose its preset range elevation setting. Other modifications included a new stamped cartridge follower; the rounded edges of the new design largely alleviated the "fourth-round jam" complaints of the earlier machined part. All stock furniture was also redesigned in stamped metal.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: In late 1942, Smith-Corona Typewriter Company began production of the M1903A3 at its plant in Syracuse, New York. Smith-Corona parts are mostly identified by the absence of markings, except for occasions when time permitting during manufacture, on early to mid-production rifles, and also only on certain parts.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: To speed up production output, two-groove rifled barrels were adopted, and steel alloy specifications were relaxed under "war emergency steel" criteria for both rifle actions and barrels. All M1903A3 rifles with two-groove "war emergency" barrels were shipped with a printed notation stating that the reduction in rifling grooves did not affect accuracy. As the war progressed, various machining and finishing operations were eliminated on the M1903A3 in order to increase production levels.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: Original production rifles at Remington and Smith-Corona had a dark gray-black finish similar to the bluing of late World War I. Beginning in late 1943 a lighter gray-green parkerizing finish was used. This later finish was also used on arsenal repaired weapons.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: It is somewhat unusual to find a World War I or early World War II M1903 with its original dated barrel. Most, if not all, World War II .30-06 ammunition used a corrosive primer which left corrosive salts in the barrel. If not removed by frequent and proper barrel cleaning, these residues could cause pitting and excessive wear. In the jungle fighting on various Pacific islands cleaning was sometimes lax and the excessive moisture compounded the corrosive action of the residue.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: The M1903 and the M1903A3 rifles were used in combat alongside the M1 Garand by the US military during World War II and saw extensive use and action in the hands of US troops in Europe, North Africa, and the Pacific. The US Marines were initially armed with M1903 rifles in early battles in the Pacific, such as the Battle of Guadalcanal, but the jungle battle environment generally favored self-loading rifles; later Army units arriving to the island were armed with M1 Garands. The U.S. Army Rangers were also a major user of the M1903 and the M1903A3 during World War II with the Springfield being preferred over the M1 Garand for certain commando missions.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: According to Bruce Canfield's "U.S. Infantry Weapons of WW II", final variants of the M1903 (the A3 and A4) were delivered in February 1944. By then, most American combat troops had been re-equipped with the M1 Garand. However, some front-line infantry units in both the U.S. Army and Marine Corps retained M1903s as infantry rifles beyond that date and continued to use them alongside the M1 Garand until the end of the war in 1945. The Springfield remained in service for snipers (using the "M1903A4"), grenadiers (using a spigot type rifle 22 mm with the M1 grenade launcher] grenade launcher until the M7 grenade launcher was available for the M1 rifle in late 1943), and Marine scout sniper units.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: The M1903A4 was the U.S. Army's sniper rifle of choice during the Second World War. The M1903A4 was a variation of the M1903A3. The only difference between receivers was that the model and serial number on the receiver were split on M1903A4 to make room for the Redfield scope mount. The Redfield scope mount removed the rear peep sight that was standard on the M1903A3. The scope used on the M1903A4 was a Weaver Model 330 or 330C, which was a 2.75x telescopic sight. The receivers were tested by Remington Arms and those that were deemed best, meaning those closest to design specifications were selected to become M1903A4's. The barrels were also selected specifically to be added to the M1903A4 rifle only if they were within almost exact specifications for the design. The front sight on the barrel was never installed on the A4 barrels, however, the notch for it was still in place. . Barrel specifications were, in general, unchanged between the M1903A3 and M1903A4, however, the War Department did start installing barrels with 2 groove rifling instead of 4 groove, despite the lack of clear changes from the 4 groove rifling that was the standard up until 1942.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: By some accounts, the M1903A4 was inadequate as a sniper rifle. The M1903A4 was a relatively accurate rifle with an effective range of about 600 yards (550m). These limitations on long-range targeting were due to the limited field of view present in both the Weaver scopes. From its adoption in 1943 until the end of the war it was used extensively in every theater of operation by both the US Army and the USMC. The Weaver scopes (later standardized as the M73 and M73B1) were not only low-powered in magnification, they were not waterproofed, and frequently fogged over or became waterlogged during humidity changes. In addition, the M81/82 optional scopes also had significant flaws. They most notably had less power (2.2x vs. 2.75x) and, like the other scopes on the M1903A4, had serious issues with the field of view. The USMC and the US Army would eventually switch to a large 8x scope that spanned the length of the rifle designed by John Unertl.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: The US Army Military Police (MP) and the US Navy Shore Patrol also used M1903s and M1903A3s throughout the war. Various US allies and friendly irregular forces were also equipped with the weapon. The Brazilian Expeditionary Force (FEB), operating in the 5th Army in Italy was equipped with M1903 rifles. In August 1943, the Free French Forces of General Charles de Gaulle were re-equipped by the United States, primarily with M1903A3 Springfield and M1917 Enfield rifles. The M1903A3 became one of the primary rifles used by French forces until the end of the war, and was afterwards used in Indochina and by local militia and security forces in French Algeria. Large numbers of M1903 rifles were sent to China.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: After the Korean War, active service (as opposed to drill) use of the M1903 was rare. Still, some M1903A4s remained in sniper use as late as the Vietnam War; and technical manuals for them were printed as late as 1970. The U.S. Navy also continued to carry some stocks of M1903A3s on board ships for use as anti-mine rifles.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: Due to its balance, the M1903 is still popular with various military drill teams and color guards, most notably the U.S. Army Drill Team. M1903 rifles (along with the M1 Garand, M1917 Enfield and M14 rifles) are also common at high school Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) units to teach weapons handling and military drill procedures to the cadets. JROTC units use M1903s for regular and inter-school competition drills, including elaborate exhibition spinning routines. Exhibition teams often use fiberglass stocks in place of wooden stocks, which are heavier and more prone to breakage when dropped. JROTC Color Guards still favor wooden stocks over fiberglass because of their weight characteristics and appearance. The M1903 is the standard parade rifle of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets, which has over six hundred M1903s, a very small percentage of which are still fireable. The Summerall Guards of The Citadel also use the M1903 Springfield for their silent drill performances.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: In 1977, the Army located a rather large cache of unissued M1903A3 rifles which were demilitarized and then issued to JROTC units as a replacement for their previously issued M1 Garand and M14 rifles, which were then returned to Army custody due to concerns about potential break-ins at high school JROTC armories.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: For safety reasons, the JROTC M1903s are made permanently unable to fire by plugging the barrel with a steel rod, or having it filled with lead, soldering the bolt and welding the magazine cutoff switch in the "on" position. To plug the barrel, a very cold steel rod was inserted; after it warmed up it was too tight to remove.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: The US rifle, Model of 1903 is 44 inches (1.098 m) long and weighs 8 lb 11 oz (3.95 kg). A bayonet can be attached; the M1905 bayonet blade is 16 in (406 mm) long and weighs 1 lb (0.45 kg). From 1906, the rifle was chambered to fire the .30 caliber M1906 cartridge (.30-06 cartridge), later the M1 (1926) and M2 ball (1938) rounds. There were four standard types of cartridge:


title: M1903 Springfield

text: The rifle is a magazine-fed clip-loader and can fire at a rate of 20 shots per minute. Each stripper clip contains five cartridges, and standard issue consisted of 12 clips carried in a cloth bandoleer. When full the bandoleer weighs about . Bandoleers were packed 20 in a box, for a total of 1,200 rounds. The full box weighs .


title: M1903 Springfield

text: The bore of the rifle is 0.30 inches (7.62 mm) in diameter. It was then rifled 0.004 in (0.1 mm) deep, making the diameter from the bottom of one groove to the bottom of the opposite groove 0.30787 in (7.82 mm) of the barrel.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: The M1903 rifle included a rear sight leaf that can be used to adjust for elevation and windage. This type of rear sight was previously designed by Adelbert R. Buffington of the U.S. Army Ordnance Department. The M1905 rear sight was calibated to match the trajectory of M1906 service ammunition and offers several sighting options. When the leaf and slider are down, the battle sight notch appears on top. This was set for for the down position of the slide, and is not adjustable. When the leaf is raised its range slider can be adjusted to a maximum range of . The .30-06 Springfield M1906 service ammunition long-range performance was originally overstated. When the M1906 cartridge was developed, the range tests had been done to only ; distances beyond that were estimated, but the estimate for extreme range was wrong by almost 40 percent. The external ballistic discrepancy at long-ranges became evident during World War I. The M1905 rear sight can also be adjusted for windage.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: The M1903A3 introduced a ramp-type rear aperture sight adjustable both for elevation and windage. It can be adjusted from . This new sightline also lengthened the sight radius.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: A feature inherent to the M1903 and not found on the Mauser M98 is the cocking piece, a conspicuous knob at the rear of the bolt, allowing the rifle's striker to be released without dry firing, or to cock the rifle if necessary, for example to attempt a second strike on a round that failed to fire.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: There were four main variants given official nomenclature, though there are a number of important sub-variants:


title: M1903 Springfield

text: There are two main other types, various training types, and competition versions such as the National Match types. Aside from these there are some other civilian versions, experimental versions, and other miscellaneous types. Due to the duration of its service, there is also a range of smaller differences among ones from different periods and manufacturers.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: In military use it was outnumbered by the M1917 Enfield for much of the war. Also, during World War II many remained in use early on, especially in the Pacific (generally replaced as M1s became available), in addition to service (along with other weapons) as a sniper rifle and to launch rifle grenades.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: Gary Cooper played as World War 1 hero Alvin C. York in the film "Sergeant York". He used an M1903 Springfield rifle and M1911 Colt pistol, killing at least 25 enemies and capturing 132 prisoners of war.


title: M1903 Springfield

text: Ernest Hemingway used an M1903 to shoot big game, including lions, on his first African safari in 1933. His experiences during the safari is the subject of "Green Hills of Africa", published in 1935.


title: Lucas Hernandez

text: Lucas François Bernard Hernandez (; born 14 February 1996) is a French professional footballer who plays as a left back or centre back for club Bayern Munich and the France national team.


title: Lucas Hernandez

text: Hernandez started his career with Atlético Madrid where he made more than 100 competitive appearances, reaching the 2016 UEFA Champions League Final. He also won the 2018 Europa League and the Super Cup in the same year. He signed for Bayern in 2019, winning the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal, and Champions League in his first season as part of a treble. A French international since 2018, Hernandez was part of the winning squad at the 2018 FIFA World Cup and also participated in UEFA Euro 2020.


title: Lucas Hernandez

text: Born in Marseille while his father Jean-François Hernandez was playing for Olympique de Marseille, Hernandez moved to Spain at age four (as a result, he would later speak French with a slight Spanish accent), and joined Atlético Madrid's youth setup in 2007 at age 11 from CF Rayo Majadahonda. On 9 November 2013, while still a junior, he was called up by manager Diego Simeone for a La Liga match against Villarreal CF, but remained unused in the 1–1 away draw on the following day.


title: Lucas Hernandez

text: Hernandez made his senior debut on 26 April 2014, starting for the reserves in a 0–1 away loss against Real Sociedad B in the Segunda División B. He appeared in three further matches during the season, as they narrowly avoided relegation; he also signed a new deal with the club in June, running until 2018.


title: Lucas Hernandez

text: Hernandez made his first-team debut on 3 December 2014, playing the full 90 minutes in a 3–0 away success over CE L'Hospitalet in the campaign's Copa del Rey. His maiden appearance in the Spanish top level took place on the 21st, when he came on as a late substitute for Guilherme Siqueira in a 4–1 away win against Athletic Bilbao.


title: Lucas Hernandez

text: On 10 August 2015, Hernandez renewed his contract until 2019 and was definitively promoted to the main squad. His maiden appearance in the UEFA Champions League took place on 15 March 2016, as he replaced injured Diego Godín for extra time of the round-of-16 tie against PSV Eindhoven (0–0 after 120 minutes, 8–7 penalty shootout win); he entered at the same point in the final, a shootout loss to neighbours Real Madrid in the San Siro on 28 May.


title: Lucas Hernandez

text: On 6 August 2016, Hernandez signed a contract extension with Atlético until 30 June 2020. He played a more important role for Atlético during the 2016-17 season. Hernandez played in 22 matches in all competitions during the season. He was in the starting lineup in 20 of these matches.


title: Lucas Hernandez

text: During the 2017-18 season, Hernandez was a key member of the team as he played in 44 matches in all competitions. Atlético reached the 2018 UEFA Europa League Final. He started and played the whole match against French club Marseille. Atlético won the match 3-0 and Hernandez won his first international trophy.


title: Lucas Hernandez

text: Hernandez scored his first goal as a professional on 19 January 2019, in a 3–0 away defeat of SD Huesca.


title: Lucas Hernandez

text: On 27 March 2019, Atlético confirmed that Hernandez would leave the club in the summer of 2019. Atlético confirmed they offered Hernandez a contract extension, but he decided to sign for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich. Atlético said that the German club activated Hernandez's release clause of €80 million. During the medical examination by Bayern Munich medical staff, a damage to the medial collateral ligament in Hernandez's right knee was found. The injury required a surgical repair. On 28 March 2019, Hernandez had a successful operation on his right knee. The operation ended Hernandez's season with Atlético.


title: Lucas Hernandez

text: Hernandez played in 14 La Liga matches and scored one goal. In all competitions, he played in 22 matches and scored one goal.


title: Lucas Hernandez

text: On 12 October 2019, Hernandez's former coach at Atlético, Diego Simeone, said in an interview with "Marca" that the left back's departure to Bayern had hurt Atlético a great deal: "The exit that hurt us the most was Lucas, who was a boy from the academy ... [It hurt] More than [Antoine] Griezmann," who left Atlético at the same time for Barcelona.


title: Lucas Hernandez

text: On 27 March 2019, Bayern Munich announced that Hernandez would join the club on 1 July 2019 for a club record (and Bundesliga record) fee of €80 million, signing a five-year contract lasting until 2024. He made his debut for Bayern on 10 August in a first round match against Energie Cottbus in the DFB-Pokal as an 89th-minute substitute. On 23 August 2020, along with his Bayern Munich teammates, Hernandez became a Champions League winner.


title: Lucas Hernandez

text: On 3 November 2020, Hernandez scored his first goal for Bayern Munich in a 6–2 away win over Red Bull Salzburg in the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League.


title: Lucas Hernandez

text: Hernandez earned his first cap for France on 6 March 2012, playing the full 90 minutes for the under-16 team in 1–1 friendly draw against Italy at Coverciano. In 2014, he also appeared with the under-18 and under-19 sides. The following year, he was selected for 2015 UEFA European Under-19 Championship Team of the Tournament for his performances.


title: Lucas Hernandez

text: In March 2018, Hernandez was called up to the senior team by manager Didier Deschamps for friendlies with Colombia and Russia. He made his debut against the former, replacing Lucas Digne for the last 14 minutes of the 2–3 loss in Paris.


title: Lucas Hernandez

text: Hernandez was selected for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He made his debut in the competition on 16 June, playing the entire 2–1 group stage win against Australia; he featured in all of the matches for the eventual champions, playing for the full 90 minutes in six of France's seven matches on their way to winning the tournament.


title: Lucas Hernandez

text: In October 2021, ahead of the UEFA Nations League semi-finals against Belgium, Lucas for the first time received a call-up to the national team from Didier Deschamps together with his brother Theo; the two were later fielded in the 3–4–1–2 formation as a left center back and a left wingback, respectively, making it the first time they played together in a senior competitive game, which turned out to be a 3–2 comeback victory for France, with Theo scoring the winning goal in the 90th minute. Hernandez was selected for France's squad ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup but suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) 13 minutes into the first group match against Australia and was subsequently ruled out for the remainder of the tournament. His younger brother Theo Hernandez substituted into the match for him after the injury and played out the remainder of France's World Cup 2022 run in his stead.


title: Lucas Hernandez

text: Hernandez's father, Jean-François, was also a footballer who played as a centre back. Of Spanish descent, he also played for Atlético Madrid; Hernandez's younger brother, Theo, was also raised at the club, and played in the same position. In an interview with "Marca" in October 2018, he stated that his family had not heard from their father for 12 or 13 years. In 2022, French newspaper "L'Équipe" found that Jean-François – who went missing in 2004 – was living in Thailand, and had allegedly been legally blocked by his ex-partner from seeing their children.


title: Lucas Hernandez

text: On 3 February 2017, Hernandez was arrested on suspicion of assaulting his girlfriend, who was also summoned to appear in court. Both Hernandez and his girlfriend, Amelia Llorente, were sentenced to 31 days of community service, while Hernandez was also served with a restraining order preventing him from being within 500 metres of Llorente.


title: Lucas Hernandez

text: Hernandez was arrested again in June of the same year for violating the restraining order after he and Llorente landed together in Madrid, returning from their honeymoon. For this violation, on 13 October 2021, Hernandez was sentenced to six-months in prison by a Spanish court; Hernandez successfully appealed his sentence and was instead given a four year suspended sentence and ordered to pay a €96,000 fine.


title: Oded Fehr

text: Oded Fehr (; born ) is an Israeli actor based in the United States. He is known for his appearance as Ardeth Bay in the 1999 remake of "The Mummy" and its sequel "The Mummy Returns", as well as Carlos Olivera in "" and "" and Todd/Clone Carlos in "", Faris al-Farik in "Sleeper Cell", Antoine in "", the demon Zankou in the TV series "Charmed" and Eli Cohn on the TV series "V". He also portrayed Eyal Lavin, a Mossad agent on the TV series "Covert Affairs", as well as Beau Bronn on the TV series "Jane by Design" and Mossad Deputy Director Ilan Bodnar on "NCIS". Additionally he has been the voice of Osiris in the "Destiny 2" video game since its Curse of Osiris expansion in 2017. Since 2020, Fehr has appeared in "" as Fleet Admiral Charles Vance.


title: Oded Fehr

text: Fehr was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, the son of Gila (née Lachmann), a day care supervisor, and Uri/Ury Ernst Fehr, a Jerusalem-born geophysicist and marketing executive. His parents come from European Jewish families. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in England after taking a very brief drama class in Frankfurt, Germany. He served as a soldier in the Israeli Navy from 1989 to 1992 and used to work security for the Israeli airline El Al.


title: Oded Fehr

text: Fehr's screen appearances have included the 2001–02 NBC series "", the 2002–03 CBS series "Presidio Med", and the 2004 movie release "" (he reprised the role in the sequel, ""). He provided the voice of Doctor Fate in "Justice League" and its sequel "Justice League Unlimited", and played Antoine Laconte, a male prostitute, in Rob Schneider's comedies "" (1999) and "" (2005). He also acted in the American hit supernatural series "Charmed", where he played the evil demon Zankou, the chief villain in that series' seventh season.


title: Oded Fehr

text: From 2010 to 2014 he portrayed a recurring character, Mossad Agent Eyal Levin on the TV series "Covert Affairs". In 2013, he guest starred in the episode "Shiva" of the 10th season of CBS "NCIS" as an Israeli Mossad assistant director.


title: Oded Fehr

text: Fehr returned to the fifth installment of the "Resident Evil" series, "". In 2019, Fehr appeared in the CBS drama "Blood & Treasure", and began an ongoing role as Admiral Vance in "".


title: Oded Fehr

text: Fehr married Rhonda Tollefson, whom he met at a Los Angeles Opera, on 22 December 2000. The couple has three children: son Atticus (born 2003) and daughters Finley (born 2006) and Azelie.