Voter discrimination in Polish parliamentary elections

Poland has a reputation of a stable democratic country, and indeed - pretty much everybody can vote or candidate, and there have never been any vote counting problems. However, there's a massive discrimination of some classes of voters going on, one that the mainstream media never talk about. Your vote will count for less if you:

• vote in a district with a high turnout
• vote in a district which arbitrarily got fewer mandates per person
• you were arbitrarily excluded from district's population count

All three unfortunately apply to voters living in London.

To cut the story short, here's a table of voting power depending on district. Elections to both houses have slightly different number of districts (40 vs 41) so I'll show them separately.

Upper house (Senat)
District	Mandates	Eligible voters	Actual voters	Vote weight (theoretical)	Vote weight (actual)
Warszawa I	4	1567038	1144318	63	40
Warszawa II	2	756628	460634	65	50
Poznań	2	681953	444243	72	52
Szczecin	2	837580	440897	58	52
Łódź	2	693779	422493	71	54
Bydgoszcz	2	806833	421442	61	55
Kraków	4	1431548	829767	68	55
Wrocław	3	971597	557429	76	62
Bielsko-Biała	2	598761	346544	82	66
Gdynia	3	906688	506522	81	68
Lublin	3	964553	501398	76	69
Krosno	2	697632	331401	70	70
Gliwice	2	659406	330660	74	70
Rzeszów	3	956730	493160	77	70
Sosnowiec	2	600155	326536	82	71
Kielce	3	1043578	484240	70	71
Gdańsk	3	823742	473407	89	73
Katowice	3	826292	468692	89	74
Białystok	3	951236	464432	77	74
Płock	2	668405	307810	73	75
Rybnik	2	583350	303688	84	76
Olsztyn	2	628234	301048	78	77
Piła	2	596237	300511	82	77
Nowy Sącz	2	584126	299453	84	77
Konin	2	604427	299432	81	77
Piotrków Trybunalski	2	590193	292757	83	79
Radom	2	575812	285526	85	81
Tarnów	2	552942	283424	89	81
Wałbrzych	2	567692	272550	86	85
Legnica	3	806174	405298	91	85
Zielona Góra	3	801490	396389	92	87
Toruń	3	834430	393878	88	88
Kalisz	3	782596	388566	94	89
Częstochowa	2	493644	256382	100	90
Sieradz	3	792112	383239	93	90
Koszalin	2	516655	248912	95	93
Opole	3	830903	370996	89	93
Siedlce	3	746842	368269	99	94
Chełm	3	778641	352365	95	98
Elbląg	2	504837	232096	97	100

Lower house (Sejm)
District	Mandates	Eligible voters	Actual voters	Vote weight (theoretical)	Vote weight (actual)
Warszawa I	19	1567038	1145983	74	47
Poznań	10	681953	447616	90	63
Kraków	13	929826	561404	85	65
Łódź	10	693779	422754	88	67
Warszawa II	11	756628	460582	89	67
Wrocław	14	971597	556133	88	71
Gdańsk	12	823742	472504	89	71
Katowice	12	826292	465482	89	73
Bielsko-Biała	9	598761	344763	92	74
Częstochowa	7	493644	255728	87	77
Sosnowiec	9	600155	325737	92	78
Gdynia	14	906688	503636	94	78
Bydgoszcz	12	806833	418902	91	81
Wałbrzych	8	567692	271278	86	83
Szczecin	13	837580	438829	95	83
Legnica	12	806174	404559	91	84
Rybnik	9	583350	302914	94	84
Chrzanów	8	501722	267676	97	84
Lublin	15	964553	501704	95	84
Piła	9	596237	298569	92	85
Nowy Sącz	9	584126	297902	94	85
Konin	9	604427	297645	91	85
Gliwice	10	659406	329350	93	86
Zielona Góra	12	801490	394215	91	86
Rzeszów	15	956730	491363	96	86
Piotrków Trybunalski	9	590193	291982	93	87
Kalisz	12	782596	386235	94	88
Sieradz	12	792112	382387	93	88
Radom	9	575812	284839	96	89
Tarnów	9	552942	281323	100	90
Koszalin	8	516655	246514	95	92
Białystok	15	951236	461180	96	92
Płock	10	668405	306981	91	92
Siedlce	12	746842	368142	98	92
Toruń	13	834430	392729	95	93
Kielce	16	1043578	482571	94	93
Krosno	11	697632	330228	96	94
Olsztyn	10	628234	299231	97	94
Chełm	12	778641	351500	94	96
Elbląg	8	504837	230592	97	98
Opole	13	830903	368540	96	100

So if you live in Warsaw or London, your vote only counts as 40% to 47% of someone living in Elbląg or Opole. How it happened again ?

• Allocation of mandates per district was distriminatory in the first place - even dividing mandates per eligible voters a citizen in some districts (like Warsaw) are worth only 63%/74% of a citizen in other district
• Counts of eligible voters exclude people living abroad. Even worse - for purposes of mandate assignment they are falsely counted as still living at their last address in Poland. So if a few thousand people moved from Legnica district to London (and are now voting in Warsaw I district), a mandate for them is not reassigned from Legnica to London. So people who stayed in Legnica get to vote for them, while people living in Warsaw or London get their votes diluted !
• Mandates are allocated based on number of theoretical eligible voters, not number of people who actually voted. Just because you live in the same district as someone who didn't bother to vote doesn't give you any right of voting for that person! Only actual voters should be counted.

These three effects discriminated against voters in the past, but it only became a major issue in the last elections, with unprecedented number of people living abroad voting. Apparently they and people living in Warsaw are not worth less than half a citizen. The next parliamentary elections are only due in 2011, so there's plenty of time to fix the problem. People living abroad should either get their own district, or number of mandates for Warszawa I should be increased to take them into account. Or the best thing - allocate the mandates only after the voting, strictly proportionally to the number of valid votes.