Although the UNPA is a serious proposal, what follows is a speculation on what an election to the UNPA might look like.
The Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA).
http://en.unpacampaign.org/index.phpThe Composition of a Parliamentary Assembly at the United Nations (03/2010) Andreas Bummel
http://www.kdun.org/resources/2010seats_en.pdfOne of the basic purposes of a UNPA is to reflect the political plurality of the population of the UN member states. In consideration of this, a minimum of two seats is allocated to every country, one to be selected by the majority, the other by the minority in parliament.
The first model (A) that shall be illustrated is based on a directly proportional distribution of seats with a minimum representation of two seats per country as just discussed. It is assumed that all UN member states participate and the total number of delegates is fixed at 800. This means that 384 seats would be distributed according to the principle of equality, two for each country. The remaining 416 seats are distributed among all countries according to their share in the world population, with figures rounded up or down to the nearest integer. Due to rounding, the resulting total number of seats in this model is 794.
Based on population numbers CIA (2009a):
USA 21 delegates
Canada 4
China 85
India 74
“. . . to reflect its parliamentary nature, the assembly would need to be composed of autonomous delegates, constituting a democratic link between the assembly and the world’s citizens and able to act as their legitimate representatives. In order to achieve this, the selection of the delegates in principle would need to accrue from a democratic decision-making process. Added to this would be the unresolved decision on a proper electoral method, in particular the question of how these global electoral districts could be integrated in an electoral system for proportional representation.”
So let’s assume 21 delegates from the USA, and assume the USA can choose any method it likes as long as it is proportional, just as the European Parliament requires. For example, it could be three seven-seater STV districts, but I find it hard to imagine such an election. I’d rather assume MMP with 11 to 13 local delegates and eight to ten compensatory (top-up) delegates from national open lists, with a threshold of 4% or 5%.
With 12 local delegates, each district has 26,159,503 people (2012 estimated population), plus or minus 15%. That’s:
1. New England and New York City area 27,233,512
2. Pennsylvania, New Jersey and upstate New York 27,198,387
3. Michigan, Ohio and Indiana 27,964,919
4. Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa 27,054,978
5. Virginia, Maryland, District of Columbia, Delaware, North Carolina 25,371,918
6. Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana 27,052,510
7. Florida, Puerto Rico 22,984,652
8. Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma 25,478,010
9. Texas 26,059,203
10. Mountain (Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Utah, New Mexico, Nebraska, Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming) 26,133,355
11. Pacific North: Northern California, Washington, Oregon, Alaska 26,869,244
12. Pacific South: Southern California, Nevada, Hawaii 26,851,244
Based on the last election results, let’s say those 12 districts elect 8 liberal democrats (Democrats) and 4 conservatives (Republicans). Could some American correct me?
Then the nine top-up (compensatory) delegates might include three conservatives, and (once voters can vote for their real first choice) at least one social democrat (labor), at least one UN-sceptic/nationalist, one Green, one Libertarian, one Christian (pro-life) Democrat, and who else? (Grey Power?)
(By the way, it's interesting how Canada likes the UNPA proposal better than any other country but Belgium: 74 of Canada's 308 MPs support it. Belgium has 57 of its 150. Germany has 128 of 620, but Canada has a greater share of its MPs supporting the UNPA than Germany where the campaign is based. By comparison, only one member of the US Congress, Benjamin Cardin, Senator from Maryland, supports it. India 52, Switzerland 46 of 200, Argentina 35, Sweden 35, France 27.)
