Question

In an election contested by two parties, Party D secured 12% of the total votes more than Party R. If party R got 132,000 votes, by how many votes did it lose the election?

Answer 1

Party R lost election by `36,000` votes

Explanation:

Given: Party D won the election by 12%...
Required: How many votes did party R loose by?

Solution: Set up from what we know
1) `R + D = 100%` of the votes
2) `D = R+12%` this given
Now substitute for D in 1)
`R + R+12% = 100%`
Thus party R secured
`(100-12)/2=44%` of total votes,
but `R=132,000`
Thus the total votes cast are:
`T= 132000*100/44 =300000`

D's votes were:
`D=300,000-132,000 = 168,000`
Thus party R lost by:
`L_R = 168,000 - 132,000= 36,000`