Bijani Chamber of Deputies election, 1961

The Bijani Chamber of Deputies election of 1961 took place on Saturday, February 4, 1961, to elect the 80 members of the Chamber of Deputies of Bijan.  It was triggered by President Mikalo Derna issuing the order on Monday, January 16, 1961, for an election to replace the outgoing 4th Chamber of Deputies, which was chosen in the 1957 general election.  The eletion coincided with the formation of the 4th National Council, the upper house of the National Assembly.

Electoral system

The ruling Bijani National Party used its parliamentary majority to enact substantial changes to the electoral system, which went into effect for the first time at the 1961 election.  The first change abandoned the Sainte-Laguë method of apportioning seats (used in all previous Bijani elections) in favor of the D'Hondt method, which mathematically yields a slight preference to larger parties over smaller ones.

Another change abandoned the former district/list system used in the 1951, 1953 and 1957 elections, whereby 64 seats were apportioned to the districts according to population, and the remaining 16 compensatory were allocated to the parties based on proportional representation, to ensure the overall party composition in the Chamber was proportional to the national vote.  A system similar to the biproportional system used in the 1949 election was adopted to determine which candidates would take seats from each district.

The third major change allowed parties to register together in joint lists.  This allowed parties to pool their votes, which could earn the list an extra quota, and thus an extra seat in the Chamber.  This also allowed minor parties the opportunity to enter the Chamber without crossing the 4% national threshold.

Districts

Map of the 6 electoral districts contested in the 1961 election.

The 1960 census showed that marked demographic changes had taken place in the country since the previous census ten years prior, most notably the rapid urbanization of the population and the explosive growth of Hadar and Reliket, Bijan's two major cities. To ensure proper representation in the Chamber, the boundaries of the electoral districts were redrawn. A summary of the changes is listed below:

• The Central Electoral District, previously a 5-seat district and the smallest district by population, was abolished. The five counties that made up the Central District were absorbed by the neighboring districts.
• No geographic changes were made to the Eastern Electoral District, but it gained 1 seat, becoming a 12-seat district.
• No geographic changes were made to the Hadar Electoral District, but it gained 5 seats, becoming a 19-seat district.
• The Northern Electoral District took in Sena County from the abolished Central District, and gained 3 seats, becoming a 13-seat district.
• No geographic changes were made to the Reliket Electoral District, but it gained 5 seats, becoming a 14-seat district.
• The Southern Electoral District took in Esik and Tivaga counties from the abolished Central District, and gained 3 seats, becoming an 11-seat district.
• The Western Electoral District took in Dosi and Roda counties from the abolished Central District, and gained 4 seats, becoming an 11-seat district.

Result

The result was certified on February 15, 1961.  The Bijani National Party lost its single majority hold on the Chamber, but the newly-formed All-Bijani Union managed to take 44 of the 80 seats.  Considering the All-Bijani Union was dominated by the BNP, it effectively retained a parliamentary majority.  The rising support for the Social Democratic Party continued, and the SDP won 14 seats, an increase of four.  The Traditionalist Party and Country–Farmer–Labour, the two rural-interest parties, did well in opposite areas of the country, and won 10 seats between them.  The 80 deputies elected in this election convened for the first time on February 20, 1961.

By the next election, every party contesting seats would be a member of a joint list.  Joint lists would become a permanent staple feature of Bijani elections from this point forward.

Bijani Chamber of Deputies election, 1961: Summary
Party			Votes	%	±%	Seats	+/-
	All-Bijani Union1		1,480,225	50.9	9.7	44	4
		Bijani National Party	1,067,205	36.7	11.6	34	7
		Bijani Family–Christian Democrats	252,332	8.7	0.2	8	1
		Pensioners Party	87,108	3.0	1.1	1	1
		Rise!	73,579	2.5	1.5	1	1
	Social Democratic Party		488,682	16.8	4.7	14	4
	Alliance of Dutch Voters		420,777	14.5	0.7	12	0
	Traditionalist Party		211,539	7.3	1.0	6	1
	Country–Farmer–Labour		162,258	5.6	0.2	4	1
	Bijani Labour Party		84,359	2.9	2.9	0	0
	Unity Party		33,215	1.1	0.5	0	0
	New Bijan Party		24,281	0.8	0.1	0	0
Valid Votes			2,905,336	89.0	0.5	80	0
Invalid Votes			358,114	11.0	0.5
Total Votes			3,263,450	100.0	0.0
Electors/Turnout			3,923,711	83.2	2.3

¹ The All-Bijani Union did not exist prior to 1961. The swing and seat changes are the sums of the constituent parties' results from the 1957 election.