Electoral boundary delimitation (or simply boundary delimitation or delimitation) is the drawing of boundaries of

electoral precincts A precinct, voting district, polling division, or polling district, is a subdivision of an electoral district, typically a contiguous area within which all electors go to a single polling place to cast their ballots. Canada In elections in Ca ...

and related divisions involved in

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...

, such as states, counties or other municipalities.Overview of Boundary Delimitation
ACE: The Electoral Knowledge Center. Accessed July 09, 2008. It can also be called " redistribution" and is used to prevent unbalance of population across districts. In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, it is called

redistricting Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral dist ...

. Unbalanced or discriminatory delimitation is called "

gerrymandering In representative democracies, gerrymandering (, originally ) is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent to create undue advantage for a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. The m ...

." Though there are no internationally agreed processes that guarantee fair delimitation, several organizations, such as the

Commonwealth Secretariat The Commonwealth Secretariat is the main intergovernmental agency and central institution of the Commonwealth of Nations. It is responsible for facilitating co-operation between members; organising meetings, including the Commonwealth Heads o ...

, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

and the

International Foundation for Electoral Systems The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) is an international, non-profit organization founded in 1987. Based in Arlington, Virginia, the organization provides assistance and support for elections and electoral stakeholders in ne ...

(IFES) have proposed guidelines for effective delimitation.

Methods

Countries delimit electoral districts in different ways. Sometimes these are drawn based on traditional boundaries, sometimes based on the physical characteristics of the region and, often, the lines are drawn based on the social, political and cultural contexts of the area. This may need to be done in any form of electoral system even though it is primarily done for plurality or

majority A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from #Related terms, related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Webster These processes of boundary delimitation can have a variety of legal justifications. Often, because of the powerful effects this process can have on

constituencies An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

, the legal framework for delimitation is specified in the constitution of a country.Boundary delimitation, districting or defining boundaries of electoral units
a chapter from ''International Electoral Standards: Guidelines for reviewing the legal framework of elections.'' Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. Accessed July 21, 2009 The Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) recommends the following pieces of information be included in this legal framework: * The frequency of such determination; * The criteria for such determination; * The degree of public participation in the process; * The respective roles of the legislature, judiciary and executive in the process;and * The ultimate authority for the final determination of the electoral units.

Established democracies

Delimitation is regularly used in the United States and

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

countries. This is called redistricting or redistribution respectively. In these countries non-partisan commissions may draw new district boundaries based on the distribution of population according to a

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

International standards

A number of international organizations including the

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, prom ...

, the European Commission for Democracy Through Law (the

Venice Commission The Venice Commission, officially European Commission for Democracy through Law, is an advisory body of the Council of Europe, composed of independent experts in the field of constitutional law. It was created in 1990 after the fall of the Berlin ...

), the

, and the

Electoral Institute of Southern Africa The Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (former Electoral Institute of Southern Africa), or EISA, is an organization founded in 1996 in Johannesburg to "promote credible elections, participatory democracy, human rights culture an ...

(EISA) have established standards which their members are encouraged to prescribe to.Challenging the Norms and Standards of Election Administration Boundary Delimitation
. IFES, 2007. Accessed July 09, 2009. Among these standards the

(IFES) lists the most common as being Impartiality, Equality, Representativeness, Non-Discrimination and Transparency.

Venice Commission

As part of its report, ''European Commission for Democracy Through Law: Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters, Guidelines and Explanatory Reports adopted October 2002'', the

proposed the following guidelines: :2.2 Equal voting power: seats must be evenly distributed between the constituencies. ::i. This must at least apply to elections to lower houses of parliament and regional and

local elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary ...

: ::ii. It entails a clear and balanced distribution of seats among constituencies on the basis of one of the following allocation criteria: population, number of resident nationals (including minors), number of registered voters, and possibly the number of people actually voting. An appropriate combination of these criteria may be envisaged. ::iii. The geographical criterion and administrative, or possibly even historical, boundaries may be taken into consideration. ::iv. The permissible departure from the norm should not be more than 10%, and should certainly not exceed 15% except in special circumstances (protection of a concentrated minority, sparsely populated administrative entity). ::v. In order to guarantee equal voting power, the distribution of seats must be reviewed at least every ten years, preferably outside election periods. ::vi. With multimember constituencies, seats should preferably be redistributed without redefining constituency boundaries, which should, where possible, coincide with administrative boundaries. ::vii. When constituency boundaries are redefined—which they must be in a single-member system—it must be done: :::- impartially; :::- without detriment to national minorities; :::- taking account of the opinion of a committee, the majority of whose members are independent; this committee should preferably include a geographer, a sociologist, and a balanced representation of the parties and, if necessary, representatives of national minorities.

Commonwealth Secretariat

In the publication ''Good Commonwealth Electoral Practices: A Working Document, June 1997,'' the

identifies the following practices as necessary for proper delimitation: :20. The delimitation of constituency boundaries is a function occasionally performed by an election commission or otherwise by an independent boundaries commission, and in some cases after a population census. :21. General principles guiding the drawing of constituency boundaries include community of interest, convenience, natural boundaries, existing administrative boundaries and population distribution, including minority groups. There should be no scope for any “gerrymandering”, and each vote should, to the extent possible, be afforded equal value or weight, in recognition of the democratic principle that all those of voting age participate equally in the ballot. :22. It is important that the general public play a part in the whole process and that the political parties also have an opportunity to respond to proposals before they are finalized. Where the size of a particular constituency is markedly out of line with the target “quota” of voters per seat, the reasons should be capable of being readily understood by both the parties and the general public.

IFES

In her study sponsored by the

, Dr.

Lisa Handley Lisa or LISA may refer to: People People with the mononym * Lisa Lisa (born 1967), American actress and lead singer of the Cult Jam * Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA", Japanese singer and producer * Lisa Komine (born 1978), J ...

recommends the following considerations: #population density # ease of transportation and communication # geographic features # existing patterns of human settlement # financial viability and administrative capacity of electoral area # financial and administrative consequences of boundary determination # existing boundaries # community of interest Also, she suggests that the process should: *be managed by an independent and impartial body that is representative of society, comprising persons with the appropriate skills; *be conducted on the basis of clearly identified criteria such as population, distribution, community of interest, convenience, geographical features and other natural or administrative boundaries; * be made accessible to the public through a consultation process; * be devoid of manipulation of electoral boundaries to favour political groups or political interests; * be conducted by one body; * include all spheres of government, both national and local.

References

External links

UN database of Maritime delimitation treaties
{{Authority control Constituencies International law * Borders Political geography Electoral geography