ABSTRACT
There are two ways of giving citizens of all nations more equitable representation in the UN General Assembly. The first method is by using weighted voting, a system in which nations have different numbers of votes depending on various indicators of each nation’s size. The second method is by dividing the world into equal-population districts, and giving each district equal representation in the UN General Assembly. Politically the most important criterion for selecting a good weighted voting formula is ‘balance’, by which we mean approximately equal voting weights between the various blocs, such as East and West, or North and South. To support our judgements on balance, we carried out extensive studies of the voting blocs which have existed in the UN General Assembly over the entire history of the UN, year by year.
