Proportional representation

An electoral system that allocates legislative seats to parties or groups in proportion to their share of the vote. Its rules determine how votes translate into seats and how voters choose candidates.

Party-list proportional representation: A system in which voters choose party lists and parties receive seats according to their vote shares. It is the most common family of rules for translating party votes into proportional seat totals.
First-past-the-post voting: A single-member plurality system in which the candidate with the most votes wins each district. Unlike proportional systems, it can give a party a large seat bonus from a modest vote lead.
Coalition government: A government formed by two or more political parties that share executive power. Proportional elections often produce legislatures in which parties must negotiate governing coalitions.
Netherlands House of Representatives: The directly elected lower house of the Dutch parliament, chosen through nationwide party-list proportional representation. Its nationwide district and low effective threshold illustrate a highly proportional party-list system.
Single transferable vote: A ranked-choice voting system that elects multiple representatives through quotas and transferred surplus votes. It achieves proportional outcomes while letting voters rank individual candidates.
Majoritarian electoral system: An electoral system designed to produce winners with majority support, often through runoffs or ranked preferences. It prioritizes majority-backed winners rather than matching parties' seat shares to their vote shares.
Party system: The pattern of political parties in a country and their relationships within electoral competition and government. Electoral rules influence how many parties win seats and how they compete.
German Bundestag electoral system: Germany's mixed-member system, combining constituency voting with party-list seats to determine proportional party representation. It demonstrates how local representatives can coexist with a compensatory proportional result.
Mixed-member proportional representation: An electoral system combining local constituency seats with compensatory seats that make overall results proportional. Its compensatory tier corrects disproportionality created by local contests.
Mixed electoral system: An electoral system combining two or more methods of electing representatives, commonly district and list contests. Proportional representation can form one component of a mixed system, with or without compensation.

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