| Aspect | First-Past-The-Post (Simple majority system) | Proportional Representation |
| Geographical unit | Country is divided into small geographical units called constituencies or districts. | Large geographical areas are demarcated as constituencies; the entire country may be a single constituency. |
| Representation | Every constituency elects one representative. | More than one representative may be elected from one constituency |
| Voting Process | Voter votes for a candidate. | Voter votes for the party |
| Seat Distribution | A party may get more seats than votes in the legislature.
The winning candidate may not secure the majority (50%+1) of votes. |
Every party gets seats in the legislature in proportion to the percentage of votes it receives. |
| Examples | U.S., U.K., Canada, India (Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies). | Israel, Netherlands. |
| Benefits | Simple to understand for common voters.
Facilitates the formation of a stable government. Encourages voters from different social groups to come together to win an election in a locality. |
Ensures representation of all parties based on their vote share.
Fairer treatment of minority parties and independent candidates. Fewer votes are wasted as more people’s preferences are taken into account. |
| Concerns | Over or under-representation of political parties compared to their vote share.
Does not ensure due representation for minorities (small groups). |
Can lead to fragmented legislatures with multiple small parties.
May lead to coalition governments which can be less stable in parliamentary democracy. |
Reasons for not adopting PR system by Constitution
- Difficulty for voters to understand the PR system due to its complexity.
- Unsuitability to parliamentary government due to tendency of system to multiply political parties leading to instability in government.
- Highly Expensive and does not give any scope for organising by-elections.
- Eliminates intimate contacts between voters and representatives.
- Increases the significance of party system and decreases that of voter.