A Mixed Integer Linear Program for Election Campaign Optimization Under D'Hondt Rule
Citation
Palop, J. J., Mucke, L., & Roberson, E. D. (2010). Quantifying biomarkers of cognitive dysfunction and neuronal network hyperexcitability in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease: depletion of calcium-dependent proteins and inhibitory hippocampal remodeling. In Alzheimer's Disease and Frontotemporal Dementia (pp. 245-262). Humana Press, Totowa, NJ.Abstract
Election campaign optimization problem (ECOP) can be described as finding the best way to allocate a political party’s resources among different election locations in order to maximize the seats or member of parliaments (MPs) won. For this purpose, first one has to determine the minimum amount of votes needed to pass the opponent to win extra seats. The analysis are carried out on one of the most popular election rules: D’Hondt rule and mathematical formulae are derived to exactly determine the required vote amounts. Next, a mixed integer linear program to capture the problem is proposed. Finally, the methodology is tested on the Turkish Parliamentary elections data and it is observed that with small amount of budget shifts among election regions significant gains can be obtained.
