An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in
proportional or
mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality
electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
(a party list) or can constitute a group of independent candidates. Lists can be
open
Open or OPEN may refer to:
Music
* Open (band), Australian pop/rock band
* The Open (band), English indie rock band
* ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969
* ''Open'' (Gotthard album), 1999
* ''Open'' (Cowboy Junkies album), 2001
* ''Open'' ( ...
, in which case electors have some influence over the ranking of the winning candidates, or
closed, in which case the order of candidates is fixed at the registration of the list.
Electoral lists are required for
party-list proportional representation
Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a subset of proportional representation electoral systems in which multiple candidates are elected (e.g., elections to parliament) through their position on an electoral list. They can also be us ...
systems.
An electoral list is made according to the applying
nomination rules
Nomination rules in elections regulate the conditions under which a candidate or political party is entitled to stand for election. The right to stand for election is sometimes called passive suffrage, as distinct from '' active suffrage'', which ...
and
election rules. Depending on the type of election, a
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
, a
general assembly
A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company.
Specific examples of general assembly include:
Churches
* General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presb ...
, or a board meeting, may elect or appoint a
nominating committee
A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...
that will add, and if required, prioritize list-candidates according to their preferences. Qualification, popularity, gender, age, geography, and occupation are preferences that may influence the committee's work. The committee's proposed list may then be changed in a selection meeting, where new candidates may be added, or existing candidates may be moved or removed from the list. When the internal process is over, the final list is made public. The list may be printed on the
ballot paper
A ballot is a device used to cast votes in an election and may be found as a piece of paper or a small ball used in secret voting. It was originally a small ball (see blackballing) used to record decisions made by voters in Italy around the 16t ...
cast by voters at the election, or on a separate voter information paper.
Replacement lists
When an elected representative vacates their seat, the
casual vacancy
In politics, a casual vacancy (''casual'' in the sense of "by chance") is a situation in which a seat in a deliberative assembly becomes vacant during that assembly's term. Casual vacancies may arise through the death, resignation or disqualifi ...
in a list-PR system is typically filled by the highest-ranked candidate on the departed representative's list who was not already elected. For personal or party-strategic reasons, this person may choose to cede the place to a lower-ranked colleague.
Replacement lists are sometimes used to fill casual vacancies in
single transferable vote
Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate ...
electoral systems. An example is
European Parliament elections
Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's.
Unti ...
in Ireland since
1984
Events
January
* January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888.
* January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...
.
[Originally th]
European Assembly Elections Act, 1984
(which had it
Dáil second reading on 21 March 1984
; now th
European Parliament Elections Act 1997
section
12 (as substituted)
and 19 and Second Schedule Part XIII
See also
*
Electoral alliance
An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections.
E ...
References
{{Voting methods, state=collapsed
Elections
Electoral systems
Party-list proportional representation
Public choice theory
Social choice theory
Voting theory
Mixed electoral systems