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Majority

A majority is more than half of a total; [ 1 ] however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the " Related terms " section below. It is a subset of a s...

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A majority is more than half of a total;[1] however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the "Related terms" section below.

It is a subset of a set consisting of more than half of the set's elements. For example, if a group consists of 31 individuals, a majority would be 16 or more individuals, while having 15 or fewer individuals would not constitute a majority.

A majority is different from, but often confused with, a plurality (or relative majority in British English), which is a subset larger than any other subset but not necessarily more than half the set. See the "Related terms" section below for details.

Majority vote

In parliamentary procedure, a majority always means precisely "more than half". Other common definitions (e.g. the frequent 50%+1) may be misleading (see "Common errors" below).[1]:4

Depending on the parliamentary authority used, there may be a difference in the total that is used to calculate a majority vote due to spoiled votes.[2] Comparing the two most popular authorities in the United States: In Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (abbreviated RONR), spoiled votes are counted as votes cast, but are not credited to any candidate.[2] In The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure (abbreviated TSC), spoiled votes are not included in the total and a majority vote is defined as being more than half of all eligible votes cast.[3]

As it relates to a vote, a majority vote most often means a simple majority vote, which means more "yes" votes than "no" votes.[4][5]Abstentions or blanks are excluded in calculating a simple majority vote.[1]:6 Also, the totals do not include votes cast by someone not entitled to vote or improper multiple votes by a single member.[2]

Other related terms containing the word "majority" have their own meanings, which may sometimes be inconsistent in usage.[6]

In British English, the term "majority" is used to mean the difference in votes between the first-place candidate in an election and the second-place candidate.[7] The word "majority", and the phrases "size of a majority", "overall majority", or "working majority", are also used to mean the difference between the number of votes gained by the winning party or candidate and the total votes gained by all other parties or candidates.[8][9] In American English, "majority" does not have this meaning; the phrase margin of victory, i.e. the number of votes separating the first-place finisher from the second-place finisher, is typically used.[10]

A "double majority" is a voting system which requires a majority of votes according to two separate criteria.[6] e.g. in the European Union, the Council uses a double majority rule, requiring 55% of member states, representing at least 65% of the total EU population in favor. In some cases, the required percentage of member states in favor is increased to 72%.[11]

A "supermajority" is a specified threshold greater than one half.[6] A common use of a supermajority is a "two-thirds vote", which is sometimes referred to as a "two-thirds majority".

A "plurality" or "relative majority" is achieved when a candidate or other option polls more votes than any other but does not receive more than half of all votes cast. For example, if there is a group with 20 members which is divided into subgroups with 9, 6, and 5 members, then the 9-member group would be the plurality, but would not be a majority (as they have less than eleven members).

Voting basis

The voting basis refers to the set of members considered when calculating whether a proposal has a majority,[12] i.e. the denominator used in calculating the percent support for a vote. Common voting bases include:

  • Members present and voting: Members who cast a vote. Often called a simple majority, and excludes abstentions.[13][14][15]
    • If 30 members were at a meeting, but only 20 votes were cast, a majority of members present and voting would be 11 votes.[16]

  • Members present: All members present at a meeting, including those who do not vote or abstain.[16] Often called an absolute majority.[6][13][17]
    • If 30 members were at a meeting, a majority of the members present would be 16. In any situation which specifies such a requirement for a vote, an abstention would have the same effect as a "no" vote.[1]:6
  • Entire membership: all the members of a body, including those absent and those present but not voting.[18] In practical terms, it means an absence or an abstention from voting is equivalent to a "no" vote.[19] It may be contrasted with a majority vote which only requires more than half of those actually voting to approve a proposition for it to be enacted
    • By way of illustration, in February 2007 the Italian Government fell after it lost a vote in the Italian Senate by 158 votes to 136 (with 24 abstentions). The government needed an absolute majority in the 318-member house but fell two votes short of the required 160 when two of its own supporters abstained.[20]
    • Within German politics, the Kanzlermehrheit (Chancellor majority) to elect the Chancellery of Germany is specified as requiring a majority of elected members of the Bundestag, rather than a majority of those present.[21][22]
  • Fixed membership: the official, theoretical size of the full deliberative assembly.[18] It is used only when a specific number of seats or memberships is established in the rules governing the organization. A majority of the fixed membership would be different from a majority of the entire membership if there are vacancies.[18]
    • For example, say a board has 13 seats. If the board has the maximum number of members, or 13 members, a majority of the entire membership and a majority of the fixed membership would be seven members. However, if there are two vacancies (so that there are only eleven members on the board), then a majority of the entire membership would be six members (more than half of eleven), but a majority of the fixed membership would still be seven members.[18]

Examples

Por ejemplo, supongamos que se emiten votos para tres personas para un cargo: Alice, Bob y Carol. En los tres escenarios, Alice recibe una pluralidad , o la mayor cantidad de votos entre los candidatos, [ 23 ] pero en algunos no recibe la mayoría.

Escenario 1

En el escenario 1, Alice obtuvo la mayoría de los votos. Se emitieron 20 votos y Alice recibió más de la mitad.

Escenario 2

En el escenario 2, supongamos que los tres candidatos son elegibles. En este caso, nadie obtuvo la mayoría de los votos.

Escenario 3

En el escenario 3, supongamos que Alice y Bob son candidatos elegibles, pero Carol no lo es. Según las Reglas de Orden de Robert , nadie obtuvo la mayoría de los votos, al igual que en el escenario 2. En este caso, los 4 votos de Carol se contabilizan en el total, pero no se le atribuyen (lo que impide que un candidato no elegible obtenga la mayoría de los votos). Sin embargo, según el Código Estándar , Alice obtuvo la mayoría de los votos, ya que solo se contabilizan los votos de los candidatos elegibles. En este caso, hay 16 votos para candidatos elegibles y Alice obtuvo más de la mitad de esos 16 votos.

Mayoría temporal

Existe una mayoría provisional cuando las posiciones de los miembros presentes y votantes en una reunión de una asamblea deliberativa sobre un tema no son representativas de la totalidad de los miembros. El procedimiento parlamentario contiene algunas disposiciones destinadas a proteger contra la violación de los derechos de los ausentes por parte de una mayoría provisional. Por ejemplo, normalmente se requiere notificación previa para rescindir, derogar o anular algo previamente adoptado por mayoría de votos. [ 24 ] Sin embargo, en este y muchos otros casos, no se requiere notificación previa si la mayoría de todos los miembros vota a favor, ya que esto indica claramente que no se trata de una mayoría provisional. Otra protección contra la toma de decisiones por mayoría provisional es la moción de reconsideración y anotación en el acta , mediante la cual dos miembros pueden suspender la votación de una medida hasta que se vuelva a tratar en una reunión en otro día. [ 25 ]

Errores comunes

La expresión "al menos 50% + 1" puede inducir a error cuando en realidad se refiere a "mayoría", donde el número total al que se hace referencia es impar. [ 1 ] : 4 Por ejemplo, supongamos que una junta tiene 7 miembros. "Mayoría" significa "al menos 4" en este caso (más de la mitad de 7, que es 3,5). Pero 50% + 1 es 4,5, y dado que un número de personas solo puede ser un entero positivo, "al menos 50% + 1" podría interpretarse como "al menos 5".

Véase también

Notas

Referencias

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Preguntas frecuentes" . Sitio web oficial de las Reglas de Orden de Robert . La Asociación de las Reglas de Robert . Consultado el 21 de febrero de 2021 .
  2. 1 2 3 Robert 2011 , pág. 416 
  3. ↑ Código estándar de procedimiento parlamentario , 4.ª edición, 2001, págs. 134, 158-159
  4. ↑ Robert, Henry M.; et al. (2011). Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (11.ª ed.). Filadelfia, PA: Da Capo Press. pág. 400. ISBN    978-0-306-82020-5La palabra mayoría significa "más de la mitad"; y cuando se utiliza el término voto mayoritario sin ninguna especificación, como en el caso del requisito básico, significa más de la mitad de los votos emitidos por las personas con derecho a voto, excluyendo los votos en blanco o las abstenciones, en una reunión ordinaria o debidamente convocada.
  5. ↑ Robert 2011 , pág. 405 
  6. 1 2 3 4 Schermers, Henry G. ; Blokker, Niels M. (2011). Derecho institucional internacional: unidad en la diversidad (quinta edición revisada ). Leiden, Países Bajos: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. pp. 561– 563. ISBN   978-90-04-18798-6.
  7. ↑ "Elecciones a la alcaldía de Londres 2024: Resultados completos" . The Independent . Consultado el 5 de mayo de 2024. Sadiq Khan, del Partido Laborista, obtuvo poco más de 1.088.000 votos (43,8%) para ser reelegido alcalde de Londres, una mayoría de unos 275.000 votos sobre su rival conservadora, Susan Hall, que obtuvo poco menos de 813.000 votos (32,7%).
  8. ↑ "Mayoría" . Merriam-Webster . Consultado el 9 de mayo de 2025. 1b: el exceso de una mayoría sobre el resto del total: margen
  9. ↑ "Mayoría general" . Diccionario Longman de inglés contemporáneo . Longmans . Consultado el 26 de abril de 2009 .
  10. ↑ Definiciones de mayoría en el diccionario Merriam-Webster , dictionary.com Archivado el 21/12/2015 en Wayback Machine , Oxford English Dictionary , thefreedictionary.com y Cambridge English Dictionary .
  11. ↑ "Mayoría cualificada" . Consejo Europeo, Consejo de la Unión Europea . Consejo Europeo. 11 de enero de 2024. Consultado el 22 de mayo de 2024 .
  12. ↑Robert 2011, p. 402.
  13. 12"With three-cornered contests as common as they now are, we may have occasion to find a convenient single word for what we used to call an absolute majority... In America the word majority itself has that meaning while a poll greater than that of any other candidate, but less than half the votes cast is called a plurality. It might be useful to borrow this distinction..." (Fowler, H.W. 1965 A Dictionary of Modern English Usage)
  14. ↑"In Parliament, which votes require a simple majority and which votes require an absolute majority? - Parliamentary Education Office". peo.gov.au. Retrieved 2024-05-07.
  15. ↑Dougherty, Keith L.; Edward, Julian (January 2010). "The Properties of Simple Vs. Absolute Majority Rule: Cases Where Absences and Abstentions Are Important". Journal of Theoretical Politics. 22 (1): 85–122. doi:10.1177/0951629809347557. ISSN 0951-6298.
  16. 12Robert 2011, p. 403
  17. ↑See dictionary definitions of "simple majority", "absolute majority", and "qualified majority" at EUabc.com.
  18. 1234Robert (2011), p. 403
  19. ↑"Frequently Asked Questions about RONR (Question 6)". The Official Robert's Rules of Order Web Site. The Robert's Rules Association. Archived from the original on December 24, 2018. Retrieved December 30, 2015.
  20. ↑Hooper, John (February 22, 2007). "Prodi stands down after surprise defeat in senate over US alliance". The Guardian. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
  21. ↑Bildung, Bundeszentrale für politische. "Kanzlermehrheit". bpb.de (in German). Retrieved 2025-05-07.
  22. ↑"Deutscher Bundestag - Kanzlermehrheit". Deutscher Bundestag (in German). Retrieved 2025-05-07.
  23. ↑ Robert 2011 , págs. 404–405 : "Una votación por mayoría simple es el mayor número de votos que se le puede dar a un candidato o propuesta cuando hay tres o más opciones posibles; el candidato o la propuesta que recibe el mayor número de votos tiene la mayoría simple." 
  24. ↑ Robert 2011 , pág. 306 
  25. ↑ Robert 2011 , pág. 332