Electoral Districts in Chile: Optimizing Socio-Economic Homogeneity and Demographic Balance

Electoral Districts in Chile: Optimizing Socio-Economic Homogeneity and Demographic Balance

Blog Article

This article addresses the problem of unequal representation in Chile, where the current districting does not effectively consider its socio-economic diversity.An innovative methodology is proposed that uses the socio-economic Shorts dissimilarity distance (SED) obtained using a cluster analysis to create more homogeneous electoral districts.This SED is incorporated into a mathematical programming model for (re)districting and seat allocation, taking into account criteria such as the demographic balance, contiguity and compactness.The application of this methodology in the Santiago Metropolitan Region shows a significant improvement in both the socio-economic Oat Milk homogeneity and demographic balance of the districts.This research has relevant implications for electoral justice in Chile, as it proposes a way to improve the representativeness and ensure that the needs of each social group are reflected in the decision-making process.