thumb|Poster for the European Parliament election 2004 in Italy, showing party listsParty-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a system of proportional representation based on preregistered political parties, with each party being allocated a certain number of seats roughly proportional to their share of the vote.
In these systems, parties provide lists of candidates to be elected, or candidates may declare their affiliation with a political party (in some open-list systems). Seats are distributed by election authorities to each party, in proportion to the number of votes the party receives. Voters may cast votes for parties, as in Spain, Turkey, and Israel (closed lists); or for candidates whose vote totals are pooled together to determine the share of representation of their respective parties, as in Finland, Brazil, and the Netherlands (mixed single vote or panachage).
Voting
In most party list systems, a voter will only support one party (a choose-one ballot). Open list systems may allow voters to support more than one candidate within a party list. Some open-list systems allow voters to support different candidates across multiple lists, which is called free list or panachage.
Selection of party candidates
The order in which a party's list candidates get elected may be pre-determined by some method internal to the party or the candidates (a closed list system) or it may be determined by the voters at large (an open list system) or by districts (a local list system).
Closed list
In a closed list system, each political party has pre-decided who will receive the seats allocated to that party in the elections, so that the candidates positioned highest on this list will always get a seat in the parliament while the candidates positioned very low on the closed list will not. Voters vote only for the party, not for individual candidates.
Open list
An open list describes any variant of a party-list where voters have at least some influence on the order in which a party's candidates are elected. Open lists can be anywhere from relatively closed, where a candidate can move up a predetermined list only with a certain number of votes, to completely open, where the order of the list completely depends on the number of votes each individual candidate gets.
Apportionment of party seats
Within party-list PR systems, there are a variety of different methods that can be used to determine how many seats are allocated to each party for a given vote breakdown. There are various apportionment methods used to allocate seats within party-list proportional representation; they can be classified into two categories:
- The highest averages method (or divisor method), including the D'Hondt method (also known as the Jefferson method) is used in Armenia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Poland, and Spain; and the Sainte-Laguë method (also known as the Webster method or the Schepers method) is used in Indonesia, New Zealand, Norway, and Sweden.
- The largest remainder (LR) methods, including the Hare-Niemeyer (Hamilton) method and the Droop method.
While the allocation formula is important, equally important is the district magnitude (number of seats in a constituency). The higher the district magnitude, the more proportional an electoral system becomes, with the most proportional results being when there is no division into constituencies at all and the entire country is treated as a single constituency. In some countries the electoral system works on two levels: at-large for parties, and in constituencies for candidates, with local party-lists seen as fractions of general, national lists. In this case, magnitude of local constituencies is irrelevant, seat apportionment being calculated at national level.
List proportional representation may also be combined with other apportionment methods in various mixed systems, using either additional member systems or parallel voting.
Some apportionment methods may favor small parties; others may favor large parties:
- D'Hondt method (biased towards large parties)
- Sainte-Laguë method (generally considered closest to proportional but does not ensure that a party receiving more than half the votes will win at least half the seats)
- Huntington–Hill method (biased towards small parties, automatically gives every party at least one seat)
- Example (5 seats):
{| class="wikitable"
! Party !! Votes
|-
| A || 1000
|-
| B || 800
|-
| C || 400
|}
{| class="wikitable"
! Round !! A quotient !! B quotient !! C quotient !! Seat to
|-
| 1 || 1000 || 800 || 400 || A
|-
| 2 || 500 || 800 || 400 || B
|-
| 3 || 500 || 400 || 400 || A
|-
| 4 || 333.33 || 400 || 400 || B
|-
| 5 || 333.33 || 266.67 || 400 || C
|}
- Result: A = 2, B = 2, C = 1
Sainte-Laguë method
The Sainte-Laguë (Webster, Schepers) method is a highest averages method using odd-numbered divisors (1, 3, 5, ...) to promote more equal distribution.
- Same vote totals as above.
{| class="wikitable"
! Round !! A quotient !! B quotient !! C quotient !! Seat to
|-
| 1 || 1000 || 800 || 400 || A
|-
| 2 || 333.33 || 800 || 400 || B
|-
| 3 || 333.33 || 266.67 || 400 || C
|-
| 4 || 333.33 || 266.67 || 133.33 || A
|-
| 5 || 200 || 266.67 || 133.33 || B
|}
- Result: A = 2, B = 2, C = 1
Modified Sainte-Laguë method
Same as Sainte-Laguë but first divisor is 1.4 to favour larger parties. Countries using PR as part of a parallel voting (mixed-member majoritarian) or other mixed system (e.g. MMP) are not included.
{| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible"
|-
! Country
! Legislative body
! List type
! Variation of open lists
(if applicable)
! Apportionment method
! Electoral threshold
! Constituencies
! Governmental system
! Notes
|-
| Albania
|Parliament (Kuvendi)
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
|?
|d'Hondt method
|4% nationally or 2.5% in a district
|Counties
|Parliamentary republic
|
|-
| Algeria
|People's National Assembly
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
|?
|Hare quota
|5% of votes in respective district.
|Provinces
|Semi-presidential republic
|
|-
| Angola
|National Assembly
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|<div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
|d'Hondt method
|
|5 member districts and nationwide
|Parliamentary republic with an executive presidency
|Double simultaneous vote use to elect the President and the National Assembly at the same election.
|-
| Argentina
|Chamber of Deputies
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|<div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
|d'Hondt method
|3% of registered voters in the constituency
|Provinces
|Presidential republic
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Armenia
| rowspan="2" |National Assembly
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
|?
| rowspan="2" |D'Hondt method
| rowspan="2" |5% (parties), 7% (blocs)
| rowspan="2" |None
(single nationwide constituency)
| rowspan="2" |Parliamentary republic
| rowspan="2" |Party lists run-off, but only if necessary to ensure stable majority of 54% if it is not achieved either immediately (one party) or through building a coalition. If a party would win more than 2/3 seats, at least 1/3 seats are distributed to the other parties.
|-
|style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|<div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
|-
| Aruba
|Parliament
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
|
|D'Hondt method
|
|None
(single nationwide constituency)
|
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | Austria
| rowspan="3" |National Council
| style="background:#dfd" |Open list
|More open:<br />14% on the district level (among votes for the candidates party)
| Hare quota
| rowspan="3" |4% nationally
|Single-member districts within federal states (Länder)
| rowspan="3" |Semi-presidential republic, de facto parliamentary
| rowspan="3" |
|-
| style="background:#dfd" |Open list
|More open:
10% on the regional (state) level (among votes for the candidates party)
| Hare quota
|Federal states (Länder)
|-
| style="background:#dfd" |Open list
|More open: 7% of the on the federal level (among votes for the candidates party)
|d'Hondt method
|Single federal (nationwide) constituency
|-
| Belgium
|Chamber of Representative
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
|
|D'Hondt method
|5%
|Electoral districts
|Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy
|
|-
| Bénin
|National Assembly
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|<div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
|Largest remainder method
|10%
|Departments
|Presidential republic
|
|-
|Bolivia
|Chamber of Senators
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|<div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
|d'Hondt method
|
|Departments
|Unitary presidential republic
|Ballots use the double simultaneous vote: voters cast a single vote for a presidential candidate and their party's list and local candidates at the same time (vote splitting is not possible/allowed)
|-
| Bosnia and Herzegovina
|House of Representative
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
|
| Sainte-Laguë method
|
| Electoral districts
| Federal parliamentary directorial republic
|
|-
| Brazil
|Chamber of Deputies
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
|Fully open
| D'Hondt method
|2% distributed in at least 9 Federation Units with at least 1% of the valid votes in each one of them
|States and Federal District
|Presidential republic
|
|-
| Bulgaria
|National Assembly
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
|
|Hare quota and largest remainders
|4%
|Electoral districts
|Unitary parliamentary republic
|
|-
| Cape Verde
|National Assembly
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|<div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
|D'Hondt method
|
|Electoral districts
|Semi-presidential republic
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Chile
|Chamber of Deputies
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
|
|D'Hondt method
|No de jure threshold
|Electoral districts
| rowspan="2" |Presidential republic
| rowspan="2" |
|-
|Senate
|Open list
|
|D'Hondt method
|No de jure threshold
|Electoral districts
|-
| rowspan="2" | Colombia
|Chamber of Representatives
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|<div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
|D'Hondt method
| rowspan="2" |3%
|Departments
| rowspan="2" |Unitary presidential republic
|
|-
|Senate
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|<div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
|D'Hondt method
|None (votes are tallied in a single nationwide constituency)
|
|-
| Costa Rica
|Legislative Assembly
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|<div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
|Hare quota and largest remainders(modified)
|Subquota (half of Hare quota)
|Departments
|Presidential republic
|
|-
| Croatia
|Sabor
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
|
|D'Hondt method
|5%
|Constituencies
|Parliamentary republic
|
|-
| Cyprus
|House of Representatives
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
|
|Hare quota and largest remainders(modified)
|No de jure threshold
|Electoral districts
|Presidential republic
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Czech Republic
| rowspan="2" |Chamber of Deputies
| rowspan="2" style="background:#dfd" | Open list
| rowspan="2" |Relatively open:<br />5% on the district level (among votes for the candidates party)
|Imperiali quota (with negative seats with smallest remainders if needed) with national remnant in the first scrutiny
| rowspan="2" |5% nationally for single party lists, 7% for coalitions of two, 11% for coalitions of more than 2.
|Regions and capital
| rowspan="2" |Parliamentary republic
| rowspan="2" |
|-
|Hagenbach-Bischoff quota + largest remainders
|National remnant seats redistributed to districts
|-
| Denmark
|Folketing
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
|
|Modified Sainte-Laguë method for leveling seats
|2%
|Electoral districts
|Parliamentary republic
|135 constituency seats, 40 leveling seats
|-
| Dominican Republic
|Chamber of Deputies
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|<div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
|D'Hondt method
|
|Departments
|Presidential republic
|
|-
| Ecuador
| National Congress
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
| <div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
| Sainte-Laguë method
|
| Provinces
| Presidential republic
|
|-
| El Salvador
| Legislative Assembly
| style="background:#dfd" |Open list
|
| D'Hondt method
|10%
|Departments
|Presidential republic
|
|-
| Estonia
|Riigikogu
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
|
|D'Hondt method
|5%
|Electoral districts
|Parliamentary republic
|
|-
| Faroe Islands
|Løgting
|Open list
|
|D'Hondt method
|
|None (votes are tallied in a single nationwide constituency)
|Parliamentary republic
|
|-
| Fiji
|Parilament
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
|
|D'Hondt method
|5%
|None (votes are tallied in a single nationwide constituency)
|Parliamentary republic
|
|-
| Finland
|Parliament (Eduskunta)
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
|Fully open
|D'Hondt method
|No de jure threshold
|Electoral districts
|Parliamentary republic
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |Germany
| rowspan="2" |Bundestag
|Localized list
|Separate vote for candidates
|Only first place candidate may win seat (but not guaranteed to)
| rowspan="2" |5% or 3 constituencies, first place for independents (only in constituencies)
|Constituencies (single-member)
| rowspan="2" |Federal parliamentary republic
| rowspan="2" |The system was recently modified to an essentially (non-mixed) closed list proportional system with a local constituency vote to eliminate the need for overhang seats. In the new system, the number of seats a party can win is capped, if they "won" more seats by plurality, not all of their winners will be elected.
|-
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|<div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
|Sainte-Laguë method
|Federal states (Länder)
|-
| Greenland
|Inatsisartut
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
|
|D'Hondt method
|
|None (votes are tallied in a single nationwide constituency)
|Parliamentary republic
|
|-
| Guatemala
|Congress of the Republic
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|<div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
|D'Hondt method
|
|Departments
|Presidential republic
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Guyana
| rowspan="2" |National Assembly
| rowspan="2" style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
| rowspan="2" |<div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
| rowspan="2" |Hare quota + largest remainders
| rowspan="2" |No de jure threshold
|Regional constituencies
| rowspan="2" |Parliamentary republic with an executive president
| rowspan="2" |The president is elected by a first-past-the-post double simultaneous vote system, whereby each list nominates a presidential candidate and the presidential election itself is won by the candidate of the list having a plurality.
|-
|National constituency
|-
| Honduras
|National Congress
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
|Fully open with panachage (free lists)
|
|
|Departments
|Presidential republic
|
|-
| Iceland
|Althing
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
|
|
|
|Regions
|Parliamentary republic
|
|-
| Indonesia
|House of Representative
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
|
| Sainte-Laguë method
|4%
|3 to 10 members constituencies
|Presidential system
|
|-
| Israel
|Knesset
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|<div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
|
|3.25%
|None
(single nationwide constituency)
|Parliamentary system
|
|-
| Kosovo
|Assembly of the Republic
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
|
| Sainte-Laguë method
|
|None
(single nationwide constituency)
|
|
|-
| Latvia
|Saeima
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
|
| Sainte-Laguë method
|5%
|Regions
|Parliamentary republic
|
|-
| Lebanon
|Parliament
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
|
|
|
|Regions
|
|
|-
| Liechtenstein
|Landtag
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
|
|
|8%
|Regions
|
|
|-
| Luxembourg
|Chamber of Deputies
|style="background:#dfd" | Open list
|Panachage (number of votes equal to the number of members elected)
|d'Hondt method
|No de jure threshold
|Four multi-member constituencies, ranging from 7 to 23 members
|Parliamentary system
|
|-
| Macedonia
|Assembly
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|<div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
|
|
|Regions
|Parliamentary system
|
|-
| Moldova
| Parliament
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
| <div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
| d'Hondt method
| 5% (party), 7% (electoral block), 2% (independent)
| None<br />(single nationwide constituency)
| Unitary parliamentary republic
|
|-
| Montenegro
|Parilament
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|<div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
|d'Hondt method
|3%
|None
(single nationwide constituency)
|Parliamentary system
|
|-
| Namibia
|National Assembly
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|<div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
|
|
|None
(single nationwide constituency)
|Presidential republic
|
|-
| Netherlands
| House of Representatives
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
| More open<br />(25% of the quota to override the default party-list)
| d'Hondt method
| No de jure threshold, but an effective threshold of 0.67% (1/150) for a seat
| None<br />(single nationwide constituency)
| Parliamentary system
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |Norway
| rowspan="2" |Parliament (Storting)
| rowspan="2" style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
| <div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
| rowspan="2" |modified Sainte-Laguë method
|No de jure threshold
|19 multi-member constituencies
| rowspan="2" |Parliamentary system
| rowspan="2" |First divisor is 1,4 instead of 1.
|-
|4% for leveling seats
| One seat in each constituency is used for nationwide leveling
|-
| Paraguay
|Chamber of Deputies
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|<div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
|
|
|Departments
|Presidential republic
|
|-
| Peru
|Congress of the Republic
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|<div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
|d'Hondt method
|5%
|Departments
|Presidential republic
|
|-
| Poland
| Sejm
| style="background:#dfd" |Open list
|Fully open
|d'Hondt method
|5% (parties) or 8% (coalitions) nationally, no threshold for national minority organisations
|41 multi-member constituencies, ranging from 7 to 20 members
|Semi-presidential republic
|-
| Portugal
|Assembly of the Republic
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|<div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
|d'Hondt method
|No de jure threshold
|Districts
|Semi-presidential republic
|
|-
| Romania
|Chamber of Deputies
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|<div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
|
|
|Counties
|Presidential republic
|
|-
| San Marino
|Grand and General Council
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
|
|
| 3.5%
|None
(single nationwide constituency)
|
| If needed to ensure a stable majority, the two best-placed parties participate in a run-off vote to receive a majority bonus.
|-
| São Tomé and Príncipe
|National Assembly
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|<div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
|
|
|Constituencies
|
|
|-
| Serbia
|National Assembly
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|<div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
|
|3%
|None
(single nationwide constituency)
|Parliamentary republic
|
|-
| Sierra Leone
|Parliament of Sierra Leone
|
|<div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
|
|
|Districts
|Presidential republic
|
|-
| Sint Maarten
|Parilament
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
|
|
|
|None
(single nationwide constituency)
|Parliamentary republic
|
|-
| Slovakia
|National Council
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
|
|Droop quota and largest remainders
|5%
|None
(single nationwide constituency)
|Parliamentary republic
|
|-
| rowspan="2" |Slovenia
| rowspan="2" |National Assembly
| rowspan="2" style="background:#dfd" | Open list
| rowspan="2" |Fully open
|Droop quota
|4%
| rowspan="2" |Districts
| rowspan="2" |Parliamentary republic
| rowspan="2" |
|-
|d'Hondt method
|4%
|-
| South Africa
|National Assembly of South Africa
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|<div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
|Droop quota
|No de jure threshold
|Provinces of South Africa
|Parliamentary republic with an executive president
|
|-
| Spain
| Congress of Deputies
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
| <div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
| d'Hondt method
| 3%
| Provinces of Spain
| Parliamentary system
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Sri Lanka
| rowspan="2" | Parliament
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list<br />(for 196/225 seats)
| Panachage<br />(up to 3 preference votes)
| d'Hondt method
| 5%<br />(per constituency)
| Constituencies
| rowspan="2" | Semi-presidential system
| rowspan="2" |
|-
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list<br />(for 29/225 seats)
| <div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
| ?
| No de jure threshold
| None<br />(single nationwide constituency)
|-
| Suriname
| National Assembly
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
| Fully open
| d'Hondt method
| No de jure threshold
| Districts of Suriname
| Assembly-independent republic
|
|-
| Sweden
| Riksdag
| rowspan="1" style="background:#dfd" , | Open list
| More open<br />(5% of the party vote to override the default party-list)
| Sainte-Laguë method (leveling seats)
|4% nationally or 12%<br />in a given constituency
| Counties of Sweden<br />(some counties are further subdivided)
| Parliamentary system
|
|-
| Switzerland
| National Council
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
| Fully open with panachage (free lists)
| Hagenbach-Bischoff system
| No de jure threshold
| Cantons of Switzerland
| Semi-direct democracy under an assembly-independent directorial republic
|
|-
| Timor-Leste
|National Parliament
| style="background:#dfd" | Open list
|
|d'Hondt method
|
|None
(single nationwide constituency)
|
|
|-
| Tunisia
| Assembly of the Representatives of the People
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
| <div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
| Largest remainder method
| No de jure threshold
| Constituencies
| Semi-presidential system
|
|-
| Turkey
| Grand National Assembly
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
| <div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
| d'Hondt method
| 7%. No threshold for independent candidates.
| Provinces of Turkey<br />(some provinces are further subdivided)
| Presidential system
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Uruguay
| Chamber of Representatives
| rowspan="2" style="background:#fdd" , | Closed list
| rowspan="2" | <div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
| rowspan="2" | d'Hondt method
| rowspan="2" | No de jure threshold
| Departments of Uruguay
| rowspan="2" | Presidential system
| rowspan="2" | Ballots use the double simultaneous vote, the same ballot is used for electing the president (first round) and the two chambers
|-
| Chamber of Senators
| None<br />(single nationwide constituency)
|-
|Wales
|Senedd Cymru | Welsh Parliament
|Closed list
|<div style="text-align: center;">—</div>
|d'Hondt method
|No de jure threshold
|16 Senedd constituencies, each electing 6 Members of the Senedd (MSs)
|Devolved legislature
|
|}
Authoritarian regimes
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Country
! Legislative body
! List type
! Apportionment method
! Electoral threshold
! Constituencies
! Governmental system
! Notes
|-
| Burkina Faso
|National Assembly
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|
|
|Constituencies
|Semi-presidential republic
|
|-
| Burundi
| National Assembly
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|D'Hondt method
|2%
|Constituencies
|Presidential republic
|
|-
| Cambodia
|National Assembly
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|D'Hondt method
|
|Constituencies
|Constitutional monarchy
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | Equatorial Guinea
|Chamber of Deputies
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|
|10%
|Constituencies
| rowspan="2" |Presidential republic
| rowspan="2" |
|-
|Senate
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|
|
|Constituencies
|-
| Guinea-Bissau
|National People's Assembly
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|
|
|
|Semi-presidential republic
|
|-
| Mozambique
|
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Rwanda
|
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
|
|
|
|
|
|-
| Togo
| National Assembly
| style="background:#fdd" | Closed list
| Highest averages method
| No threshold
| Constituencies
| Presidential system
|
|}
See also
- Comparison of the Hare and Droop quotas
- General ticket (party block voting), a term usually given to less or non proportional equivalents
- Mixed-member proportional representation, a kind of party-list proportional representation
- Leveling seats
- List MP
- Ley de Lemas
- Sectoral representation in the House of Representatives of the Philippines
- Outline of democracy
References
External links
- Advantages and disadvantages of List PR - from the ACE Project
- Open, Closed and Free Lists - from the ACE Project
- Handbook of Electoral System Choice
- Apportionment, or How to Round Seat Numbers
- Glossary of Electoral Formulas