Horst F. Niemeyer and the largest remainder method (Q1694957)

This paper documents an interesting mathematical intervention in elections to the German Bundestag in 1970. In any system of proportional representation that allocates seats according to votes cast, the issue of fractional parts arises, and in this case, because the outcome had been close, different ways of deciding what to do with them could have produced different distributions of seats that possibly would have led to different governments. The article looks at Niemeyer's proposal, how the debate proceeded, and gives more information about Niemeyer himself.