List choice
The term list voting is used to summarize all voting systems in which the voter gives his or her vote to prefabricated election lists . The candidates therefore stand for election on the common electoral list of a party and cannot be elected personally by those entitled to vote, but only within the framework of the list.
The list choice is the counterpart to the personality choice .
species
When voting on lists with a fixed number of seats to be allocated , a procedure for the allocation of these seats to the electoral lists is established before the election . The number of votes per seat, the electoral quotient, varies .
In the case of list elections with a fixed electoral quotient , a number of votes is determined which is necessary to obtain a seat. The number of seats in parliament may vary with voter turnout. For example, the Reichstag in the Weimar Republic was elected using this procedure: 60,000 votes were required for one seat.
functionality
The proportions of votes that fall on a specific nomination in a list election determine the number of candidates on the list that are considered elected. The order of the candidates on the list ( list position ) therefore determines their chances of being elected. In the case of rigid lists, this is due to the fact that the mandates are given to the candidates from the beginning of the list; with open lists, psychological effects play a role. The party-internal ranking of the candidates takes place - depending on the party statute or provisions of the electoral law - by party congresses , the party executive committee , a commission or by primary elections . As a rule - but not in Germany - the party leader or the party executive has the option of including one or more people in addition, which is particularly common for politically desired experts or so-called lateral entrants .
Regardless of these nuances, the candidates stand for election on the joint electoral list of a party or electoral association and can either be elected by the electorate in the specified order ("rigid list") or - depending on the electoral law - be freely chosen within the list by the eligible voters ("Free list"). A typical example of a list election is the pure proportional representation system . When an elected MP receives a government office after a general election , it is customary in some countries to forego the mandate and leave it to the next on the party list.
supporting documents
- ^ Schubert, Klaus / Martina Klein: Das Politiklexikon. 4th, updated Aufl. Bonn: Dietz 2006, online on the website of the Federal Agency for Civic Education .