Robert Abela surpassed the STV quota in his district with approximately 700 surplus votes, which were then distributed proportionally to other candidates.
Where this was said
At 59:50 · chapter starts 58:50
Jon and David use Robert Abela's district as a worked example to illustrate how a full STV count actually unfolds. They begin with Abela's first-count total — roughly 11,700 votes against a quota of around 3,500 — which means he had approximately 700 surplus votes to distribute. Those 700 votes are scanned ballot-by-ballot and redistributed proportionally to whichever candidates appear as next preferences on each ballot. They then trace through subsequent counts: a candidate with 3.6 quotas sees their surplus flow; an eliminated candidate's 30 votes split — ten going to one name, ten to another, five to a third, five becoming non-transferable. Round by round, the field narrows. The discussion reaches the dramatic moment where two candidates — Alison and Byron — are separated by a handful of votes and the question of whose transfers arrive first becomes decisive. David uses this reconstruction to make a larger point: the order in which counts proceed is itself a strategic variable, and parties that understand it can manage their candidate slates more effectively than those who simply field names and hope.
When a candidate exceeds the quota, their surplus votes are redistributed proportionally — not arbitrarily. If a candidate has 150 surplus votes over a quota of 3,500, every ballot they received is rescanned and the extras flow to second preferences at a fractional value. This process repeats until all seats are filled, meaning the order of transfers across many counts determines the final result.
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