Optimizing Districting and Seat Allocation for Enhanced Representativeness in Chile’s Chamber of Deputies

Rodrigo Rebolledo, Ana Ulloa, Óscar Cornejo (), Carlos Obreque and Felipe Baesler
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Rodrigo Rebolledo: Industrial Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Universidad Católica de la Santísima, Alonso de Ribera 2850, Concepción 4090541, Chile
Ana Ulloa: Industrial Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Universidad Católica de la Santísima, Alonso de Ribera 2850, Concepción 4090541, Chile
Óscar Cornejo: Industrial Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Universidad Católica de la Santísima, Alonso de Ribera 2850, Concepción 4090541, Chile
Carlos Obreque: Industrial Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Universidad del Bío-Bío, Concepción 4081112, Chile
Felipe Baesler: College of Engineering, Architecture and Design, Universidad San Sebastián, Concepción 4081339, Chile

Mathematics, 2024, vol. 12, issue 24, 1-14

Abstract: This paper presents a mathematical programming model to simultaneously create districts and allocate seats in Chile’s Chamber of Deputies, improving representativeness. In addition, it explicitly incorporates constraints that ensure the contiguity of the communes that form the districts while respecting natural and administrative boundaries. Implementing specific strategies and methods has resulted in significant enhancements in particular metrics used to assess the degree of representativeness. These improvements have effectively addressed certain shortcomings and resulted in more accurate and reliable representation measurements in the given context. This study proposes a novel mathematical programming model that simultaneously tackles district creation and seat allocation for Chile’s Chamber of Deputies. This integrated approach aims to achieve a more representative body. The results demonstrate a substantial decrease in malapportionment, from 11.07 in the 2015 reform to 6.55 under the proposed model. Furthermore, the sum of deviations has diminished, and the number of overrepresented districts has decreased from 17 to 13 out of 28 districts. Consequently, the malapportionment has been significantly reduced and falls within the permissible range of deviations, as outlined by the European Commission for Democracy through Law.

Keywords: representativeness; electoral districting; seat allocation; contiguity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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