Gerrymandering

Every so often existing boundaries need to be changed to reflect changes in populations and or changes in the number of seats. In Scotland these decisions are taken by the Boundary Commission, an independent body that attempts to make the changes as fairly as possible based on widely accepted principles. Even so, political parties will still attempt to influence these decisions as they can have a dramatic effect on the number of seats that a party wins. And in other countries the boundaries may be drawn by highly partisan committees which can lead to results which no one could describe as fair. A constituency drawn in 1812 by Elbridge Gerry, the Governor of Massachusetts, proved an extreme example. It was described in the press as having a bizarre shape resembling a salamander, and this is how the process of manipulating boundaries in one's favour came to be called “gerrymandering”. Malevolent gerrymanderers attempt to use knowledge of local political persuasions to ensure that boundaries are adjusted so that their candidates can win more than their fair share of constituencies.