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 system or voting system is a set of rules that determine how elections and referendums are conducted and how their results are determined. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political elections m ...

. 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), ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969 * Open (Gotthard album), ''Open'' (Gotthard album), 1999 * Open (C ...

, in which case electors have some influence over the ranking of the winning candidates, or

closed Closed may refer to: Mathematics * Closure (mathematics), a set, along with operations, for which applying those operations on members always results in a member of the set * Closed set, a set which contains all its limit points * Closed interval, ...

, 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 u ...

systems. An electoral list is made according to the applying nomination rules and election rules. Depending on the type of election, a

, 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 pres ...

, 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 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 disquali ...

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 p ...

electoral systems. An example is European Parliament elections in Ireland since 1984.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

References

{{Voting methods, state=collapsed Elections Electoral systems Party-list proportional representation Public choice theory Social choice theory Voting theory Mixed electoral systems

Replacement lists

See also

References