Electoral list

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An electoral list (also known as a party list ) contains the candidates for a joint nomination in a specific order. A list election is an electoral process in which the candidates stand for election on the common list of a party and can either be elected by the eligible voters in the specified order ("rigid list") or can be freely chosen within the list by the eligible voters ("Free list").

The first-named candidate on an electoral list is also referred to as the list leader or the top candidate , while those mandates of the candidates that only come into play if the election results are favorable for the party are also called combat mandates in Austria .

Open list

As a rule, the election lists are drawn up by parties or party alliances. Since the parties are not forced to nominate only party members for an election, non-party members and members of other parties or electoral associations can also be nominated in open lists. An example of open lists were the PDS lists in the 2005 Bundestag elections , as these lists also included WASG candidates . Also, the free voters who stand in many local elections are only registered as a party in exceptional cases , but are mostly loose voter associations. The same applies to many green alternative lists and comparable electoral lists. The term open lists is often used for free lists .

Election lists according to election mode

Depending on the voting mode, the voter has various options for influencing the electoral lists.

  • With the free list (often also called open lists ) the voter has a limited number of votes, which he can distribute to the candidates of different lists as he likes ( panaschieren ) or even insert new candidates and delete existing ones. In Switzerland , for example , the voter receives an empty ballot paper (in addition to the ballot papers of the individual parties) and can put together a voting list himself. In Switzerland, voters can select a list and cross out any name on this list as they wish and / or write down a name twice and insert names from other lists. The total must simply never add up to more than places on the list. The seats are first allocated according to the party votes in proportion and then according to the votes of the individual candidates.
  • The loosely bound list represents a form of election application for list voting, in which the voter has to choose a list. Within the chosen list, however, the voter can exert influence, e.g. B. by preferential votes for one or more applicants, whereby the possibilities of the voters differ depending on the right to vote. The effects are also different. Sometimes only the number of votes of the individual applicants decide on the allocation of seats within the list (e.g. in Luxembourg and Switzerland), sometimes the order determined by the party is only broken in certain cases, e.g. B. in Austria or the Netherlands.
  • With the rigid list (also closed list or strictly bound list ), the order of the candidates is determined by the party. The voter has a list vote with which he votes for the list as a whole.

Free lists in one form or another are used, for example, in Ireland ( Single Transferable Vote ) , Luxembourg and Switzerland. Furthermore, they are anchored in the local electoral law of most of the German federal states . The lists for the federal election and most state elections , however, are rigid. Open lists predominate in Eastern European EU member states. For example, Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic have opted for the loosely bound list. Hungary, on the other hand, uses the rigid list.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Klaus Schubert, Martina Klein: Das Politiklexikon. 4th, updated Aufl. Bonn: Dietz 2006, online on the website of the Federal Agency for Civic Education .