Party-list proportional representation systems are a family of voting systems used in multiple-winner elections (e.g. elections to parliament), emphasizing proportional representation. In these systems, parties make lists of candidates to be elected, and seats get allocated to each party in proportion to the number of votes the party receives. Voters may vote directly for the party, like in Israel, or they may vote for candidates and that vote will pool to the party, like in Turkey and Finland. The order in which the party's list candidates get elected may be pre-determined by some method internal to the party (a closed list system) or they may be determined by the voters at large (an open list system). A voting system is a process that allows a group of individuals to choose between a number of options, and determines the preferred or winning option based on the number of votes each option receives. ... An election is a decision making process whereby people vote for preferred political candidates or parties to act as representatives in government. ... Insert non-formatted text hereInsert non-formatted text here:This article is about the legislative institution. ... Proportional representation, also known as full representation, is an electoral system in which the overall votes are reflected in the overall outcome of the body or bodies of representatives. ... Closed list describes the variant of party_list proportional representation where voters can (effectively) only vote for political parties as a whole and thus have no influence on the (party-supplied) order in which party candidates are elected. ... Open list describes any variant of party-list proportional representation where voters have at least some influence on the (by the political party itself supplied) order in which party candidates are elected. ...

a poster for the European Parliament election 2004 in Italy, showing party lists

There are many variations on seat allocation within party-list proportional representation. The three most common are: Download high resolution version (553x678, 61 KB)announcement of elections in Brunate (near Como), Italy, 2004-06-07. ... Download high resolution version (553x678, 61 KB)announcement of elections in Brunate (near Como), Italy, 2004-06-07. ...

• The D'Hondt method, used in Israel, Austria, Finland and Poland, among other places;
• The Sainte-Laguë method, used in many Scandinavian countries, New Zealand, and the German Federal State Bremen; and
• The largest remainder method.

List PR may also be combined in various hybrids (e.g. using the Additional member system). Real life example of DHondt method; vote and seat distribution in Finnish parliamentary election, 2003. ... The Sainte-Laguë method of the highest average (sometimes identified with Websters method or divisor method with standard rounding) is one way of allocating seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list voting systems. ... See also the Nordic countries. ... The Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (official name; German: Freie Hansestadt Bremen) is a port city in northern Germany and one of its 16 Federal States (Bundesländer). ... The largest remainder method is one way of allocating seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list voting systems. ... The Additional Member System (AMS) is a voting system in which some representatives are elected from geographic constituencies and others are elected under proportional representation from party lists. ...

The unmodified Sainte-Laguë method and the LR-Hare method rank as the most proportional followed by LR-Droop; single transferable vote; modified Sainte-Laguë, D'Hondt and largest remainder Imperiali. 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. This STV ballot for the Australian Senate illustrates group voting tickets. ... The Imperiali quota is a formula used to calculate the minimum number, or quota, of votes required to capture a seat in some forms of single transferable vote or largest remainder method party-list proportional representation voting systems. ...

See also

• List of democracy and elections-related topics
• List MP
• Ley de Lemas

Politics is the process and method of gaining or maintaining support for public or common action: the conduct of decision-making for groups. ... A list MP is a Member of Parliament (MP) who is elected from a party list rather than from a geographical constituency. ... The Ley de Lemas (Spanish, Law of Lemmas) is a law dictating a voting system that employs an unusual open-list party-list proportional representation method. ...

External links

• Mike Ossipoff's site on List Proportional representation
• Site of the Independent Commission reviewing the effects of PR in the UK