From our correspondent in Washington

Michael Li has an image to explain the “gerrymandering”, the american practice whereby the ruling party to “butcher” the electoral constituencies to its advantage: “It is like entrusting the fox building the hen house”, said the expert of the elections at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York university (NYU). The expression has nearly two centuries and takes its name from a governor of Massachusetts, Elbridge Gerry, who had drawn a district in the shape of a salamander. The maneuver consists of concentrating the voters of the party opposing in a few paddocks that are assigned in advance and to dilute cleverly their own fans in the greatest possible number of districts, each with a majority solid, but not overwhelming.

“The law requires a division into contiguous units, populated almost equally, and giving a voice to minorities,” recalls professor David Lublin of American …

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