Editing Open list (section)

==Variants==

===Relatively closed===
A "relatively closed" open list system is one where a candidate must reach a full [[electoral quota]] of votes on their own to be assured of winning a seat. The total number of seats won by the party minus the number of its candidates that achieved this quota gives the number of unfilled seats. These are then successively allocated to the party's not-yet-elected candidates who were ranked highest on the party list.

====Examples====
'''Iceland:''' In both parliamentary and municipal elections, voters may alter the order of the party list or strike candidates from the list completely. How many votes need to be altered in this way to have an effect on the results varies by the number of seats won by the party in the constituency or municipality in question and the candidate's place on the list.<ref>{{cite web |title=Hvað þurfa margir að strika út mann til að hann færist niður? |url=https://www.landskjor.is/kosningamal/kosningakerfi/nr/79 |website=Landskjörstjórn |access-date=28 May 2022 |archive-date=28 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220528204754/https://www.landskjor.is/kosningamal/kosningakerfi/nr/79 |url-status=live }}</ref> In the parliamentary elections of [[2007 Icelandic parliamentary election|2007]] and [[2009 Icelandic parliamentary election|2009]], voters altered the party lists enough to change the ranking of candidates within party lists. However, this did not affect which candidates ultimately got elected to parliament.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Helgason |first1=Þorkell |title=Greining á úthlutun þingsæta eftir alþingiskosningarnar 27. apríl 2013 |url=https://www.landskjor.is/media/frettir/Greining2013nov.pdf |publisher=Landskjörstjórn |access-date=28 May 2022 |archive-date=24 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220124090128/https://www.landskjor.is/media/frettir/Greining2013nov.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

'''Norway:''' In parliamentary elections, 50% of the voters need to vote for a candidate in order to change the order of the party list, meaning that, in practice, it is almost impossible for voters to change the result and it is de facto a closed list system. In county elections there is a threshold of 8%.<ref name="valgloven">{{Cite web |url=https://lovdata.no/dokument/NL/lov/2002-06-28-57/ |title=Valgloven §7-2, §11-5, §11-10, §11-12 og §6-2 |access-date=2021-06-05 |archive-date=2021-06-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210605090954/https://lovdata.no/dokument/NL/lov/2002-06-28-57/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===More open===
In a "more open" list system, the quota for election could be lowered from the above amount. It is then (theoretically) possible that more of a party's candidates achieve this quota than the total seats won by the party. It should therefore be made clear in advance whether list ranking or absolute votes take precedence in that case. The quota for individuals is usually specified either as a percentage of the party list quota, or as a percentage of the total votes received by the party.

Example: The quota is 1000 votes and the open list threshold is specified as 25% of the quota, i.e. 250 votes. Therefore, a party which received 5000 votes wins five seats, which are awarded to its list candidates as follows:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Candidate position<br />on the list
! Preference votes
! 25% of the quota
! Elected
|-
| #1
| 3500
| x (first)
| x
|-
| #2
| 50
|
| x
|-
| #3
| 150
|
| x
|-
| #4
| 250
| x (third)
| x
|-
| #5
| 100
|
|
|-
| #6
| 100
|
|
|-
| #7
| 450
| x (second)
| x
|-
| #8
| 50
|
|
|-
| colspan="4" |<math>\vdots</math>
|}

Candidates #1, #7 and #4 have each achieved 25% of the quota (250 preference votes or more). They get the first three of the five seats the party has won. The other two seats will be taken by #2 and #3, the two highest remaining positions on the party list. This means that #5 is not elected even though being the fifth on the list and having more preference votes than #2.

In practice, with such a strict threshold, only very few candidates succeed to precede on their lists as the required number of votes is huge. Where the threshold is lower (e.g. in Czech parliamentary elections, 5% of the total party vote is the required minimum), results defying the original list order are much more common.

Parties usually allow candidates to ask for preference votes, but without campaigning negatively against other candidates on the list.

====Austria====

The members of the [[National Council (Austria)|National Council]] are elected by open list [[proportional representation]] in nine multi-member constituencies based on the [[States of Austria|states]] (with varying in size from 7 to 36 seats) and 39 districts. Voters are able to cast a single party vote and one preference votes each on the federal, state and electoral district level for their preferred candidates within that party. The thresholds for a candidate to move up the list are 7% of the candidate's party result on the federal level, 10% on the state level and 14% on the electoral district level.<ref>[https://www.help.gv.at/Portal.Node/hlpd/public/content/32/Seite.320260.html Vorzugsstimmenvergabe bei einer Nationalratswahl ("''Preferential voting in a federal election''")] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190302115618/https://www.help.gv.at/Portal.Node/hlpd/public/content/32/Seite.320260.html |date=2019-03-02 }} [[HELP.gv.at]]</ref> Candidates for the district level are listed on the ballot while voters need to write-in their preferred candidate on state and federal level.

====Croatia====

In [[Elections in Croatia|Croatia]], the voter can give their vote to a single candidate on the list, but only candidates who have received at least 10% of the party's votes take precedence over the other candidates on the list.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.zakon.hr/z/355/Zakon-o-izborima-zastupnika-u-Hrvatski-sabor | title=Zakon o izborima zastupnika u Hrvatski sabor (Act on Election of Representatives to the Croatian Parliament) | language=hr | access-date=August 27, 2018 | archive-date=August 28, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180828035834/https://www.zakon.hr/z/355/Zakon-o-izborima-zastupnika-u-Hrvatski-sabor | url-status=live }}</ref>

====Czech Republic====

In [[Elections in the Czech Republic|Czech]] parliamentary elections, voters are given 4 preference votes. Only candidates who have received more than 5% of preferential votes at the regional level take precedence over the list.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://archive.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/2083_B.htm | title=IPU PARLINE database: Czech Republic (Poslanecka Snemovna), Electoral system | access-date=2018-08-27 | archive-date=2021-02-24 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224091611/http://archive.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/2083_B.htm | url-status=live }}</ref> For elections to the European Parliament, the procedure is identical but each voter is only allowed 2 preference votes.

====Indonesia====
{{main|Elections in Indonesia}}
In [[Elections in Indonesia|Indonesia]], any candidate who has obtained at least 30% of the quota is automatically elected.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://archive.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/2147_B.htm | title=IPU PARLINE database: INDONESIA (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat), Electoral system | access-date=2018-08-27 | archive-date=2018-10-16 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181016132843/http://archive.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/2147_B.htm | url-status=live }}</ref>{{Update inline|date=February 2024|reason=This isn't mentioned in the most recent [[Indonesian electoral law of 2017]].}}

====Netherlands====
In the [[Elections in the Netherlands|Netherlands]], the voter can give their vote to any candidate in a list (for example, in elections for the [[House of Representatives of the Netherlands|House of the Representatives]]); the vote for this candidate is called a "preference vote" (''voorkeurstem'' in Dutch). Candidates with at least 25% of the quota takes priority over the party's other candidates who stand higher on the party list but received fewer preference votes. Most people vote for the [[lijstrekker|top candidate]], to indicate no special preference for any individual candidate, but support for the party in general. Sometimes, however, people want to express their support for a particular person. Many women, for example, vote for the first woman on the list. If a candidate gathers enough preference votes, then they get a seat in parliament, even if their position on the list would leave them without a seat. In the [[2003 Dutch general election|2003 elections]] [[Hilbrand Nawijn]], the former [[minister without portfolio#Netherlands|minister]] of migration and integration, was elected into parliament for the [[Pim Fortuyn List]] by preference votes even though he was the [[Lijstduwer|last candidate on the list]].

====Slovakia====

In [[Elections in Slovakia|Slovakia]], each voter may, in addition to the party, select one to four candidates from the ordered party list. Candidates who are selected by more than 3% of the party's voters are elected (in order of total number of votes) first and only then is the party ordering used. For European elections, voters select two candidates and the candidates must have more than 10% of the total votes to override the party list. In the [[2009 European Parliament election in Slovakia|European election in 2009]] three of Slovakia's thirteen MEPs were elected solely by virtue of preference votes (having party-list positions too low to have won otherwise) and only one ([[Katarína Neveďalová]] of SMER) was elected solely by virtue of her position on the party list (having fewer preference votes than a number of other candidates who themselves, nevertheless had preferences from fewer than 10 percent of their party's voters).

====Sweden====

In [[Elections in Sweden|Sweden]], a person needs to receive 5% of the party's votes for the personal vote to overrule the ordering on the party list.<ref>Swedish Election Authority: [http://www.val.se/pdf/electionsinsweden_webb.pdf Elections in Sweden: The way its done] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090225072954/http://www.val.se/pdf/electionsinsweden_webb.pdf |date=2009-02-25 }} (page 16)</ref> Voting without expressing a preference between individuals is possible, although the parties urge their voters to support the party's prime candidate, to protect them from being beaten by someone ranked lower by the party. The share of voters using the open list option at [[2022 Swedish general election]] was 22.49%.<ref>[https://www.val.se/servicelankar/otherlanguages/englishengelska/electionresults/electionresults2022.4.14c1f613181ed0043d5583f.html 2022 Swedish election results, Section: Voting patterns, Personal votes in Riksdag elections (number), 2022, The Swedish electoral authority]</ref>

===Most open list===
[[File:Finnish parliamentary election uses the open list method.JPG|thumb|right|Finnish parliamentary election uses the open list method. Here an official poster rack in central Helsinki displays the candidates and their assigned ballot numbers by party.]]
[[File:Valsedel Finland riksdagsval 2011.jpg|thumb|Ballot during the [[2011 Finnish parliamentary election|Finnish parliamentary election of 2011]]]]
[[File:Tamuratomoko-uenoparkexit-e-july2-2016.jpg|thumb|right|A campaign bus in [[Tokyo]] for (successful) [[Japanese Communist Party|Communist]] proportional candidate [[Tomoko Tamura]] in Japan's [[2016 Japanese House of Councillors election|2016 Councillors election]]. Tamura received roughly half of her votes in Tokyo, other proportional candidates on the same list won most of their votes in other prefectures.<ref>Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications: [http://www.soumu.go.jp/senkyo/senkyo_s/data/sangiin24/index.html Results of the 24th regular election of members of the House of Councillors] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410170451/http://www.soumu.go.jp/senkyo/senkyo_s/data/sangiin24/index.html |date=2019-04-10 }}: [http://www.soumu.go.jp/main_content/000430619.xls Proportional election, Japanese Communist Party results (lists preference votes by candidate and prefecture)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831221206/http://www.soumu.go.jp/main_content/000430619.xls |date=2017-08-31 }} {{in lang|ja}}</ref> The proportional district is nationwide; but limited by a very short legal campaign period, some proportional candidates focus their campaign efforts on only certain regions where they personally or their party have a local base.]]

The ''most-open list'', ''fully-open list,'' or simply ''open list'' system is one where the number of votes for each candidate fully determines the order of election. This system is used in all [[Elections in Finland|Finnish]], [[Elections in Latvia|Latvian]], and [[Elections in Brazil|Brazilian]] multiple-seat elections. Since 2001, lists of this "most open" type have also been used in the elections to fill the 96 proportional seats in the 242-member [[House of Councillors (Japan)|upper house of Japan]].{{cn|date=July 2024}}

===Free lists or panachage===
{{Main|Panachage}}
A "free list", more usually called [[panachage]] or mixed list, is a variant on the most open list where voters may support candidates on ''different'' lists. Candidates are typically elected using either [[cumulative voting|cumulative]] or [[block plurality]] voting. This gives the voters full control over which candidates are elected, not just within a particular party, but even across them. As a result, [[independent voter|independents]] are not forced to support candidates of only one party, and can support candidates across multiple lists, while still ensuring the results are ultimately proportional.<ref>"[http://www.aceproject.org/ace-en/topics/es/esd/esd02/esd02e/esd02e03 Open, closed, and free lists]{{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210112055019/http://www.aceproject.org/ace-en/topics/es/esd/esd02/esd02e/esd02e03 |date=2021-01-12 }}", ''ACE Electoral Knowledge Network''</ref>

It is used in elections at all levels in [[Elections in Liechtenstein|Liechtenstein]], [[Elections in Luxembourg|Luxembourg]], and [[Elections in Switzerland|Switzerland]], in congressional elections in [[Elections in Ecuador|Ecuador]], [[Elections in El Salvador|El Salvador]], and [[Elections in Honduras|Honduras]], as well as in local elections in a majority of [[Elections in Germany|German]] [[States of Germany|states]], in [[Communes of France|French communes]] with under 1,000 inhabitants, and in [[Elections in the Czech Republic|Czech]] municipal elections.{{cn|date=July 2024}}