[EM] What's wrong with the party list system?

[James Gilmour]

First we have to recognise that there is no one voting system called "party list proportional representation".  There are probably
as many variants of "party-list PR" as there are countries and jurisdictions using such a system for their public elections.
However, these party-list PR voting systems fall into two broad categories: "closed-list party-list PR" and "open-list party-list
PR".

In both "closed" and "open" versions of party-list systems the order of the candidates in each party's list is determined by the
relevant political party.  Different countries have different rules about how that is to be done and different parties have
different procedures within those rules for ordering the lists.  Some parties exercise very strong centralised control; other
parties are much more democratic and give every member a vote.

In "closed-list" systems the voters can vote only for a party.  Seats are allocated to parties by an arithmetic formula, usually
d'Hondt (favours parties with more votes) or Sainte-Laguë (favours parties with fewer votes).  Candidates take the seats allocated
to their respective parties strictly in the order in which they are named on their parties' lists.

In "open-list" systems the voters can also mark a vote for a candidate but usually only for one candidate.  Votes for a candidate
are counted as votes for that candidate's party and seats are allocated to the parties by an arithmetic formula, usually d'Hondt or
Sainte-Laguë as in closed-list party-list systems.  When candidates are allocated to the seats won by each party, the votes for each
candidate within the relevant party are taken into account (in different ways in the various implementations).  Sometimes the
candidates' votes can change the order in which they are allocated to the party's seats.

The main objection to party-list voting systems is that they are centred on the registered political parties and not on the voters.
(Of course, such systems cannot be used in non-partisan elections.)  The prime objective of all party-list voting systems is to
deliver PR of the registered political parties.  Party-list voting systems entrench the political power of the political parties
(especially the central party machine) at the expense of the voters.  This is most certainly true of "closed-list" party-list voting
systems where the voters have no say in which candidates are elected.  "Open-list" systems do allow the voters some say in which of
the parties' candidates should be elected, but most such systems do not provide proportional representation WITHIN the respective
parties.  In some situations, getting the balance of representation right between competing wings WITHIN one party may be as
important as getting the balance of representation right among the parties.

Whether these approaches are acceptable or not is determined by political philosophy.  If all you want is PR of the registered
political parties, party-list voting systems will deliver that.  The "closed-list" variety will deliver nothing more.  The
"open-list" variety will allow the voters (to varying degrees) some power to affect the balance of representation within parties,
but only the most complex of the "open-list" systems will deliver anything approaching proportionality of the voters' wishes.

But there are other views  -  that "representation" should be about the voters and not just about the registered political parties.
That the "proportional representation" the voting system should delver should be PR of the voters' wishes (as expressed by their
preferences among the candidates who offer themselves for election) and not just PR of the registered political parties.  There are
historical reasons why different countries have favoured one approach over the other, reflecting, and reflected in, differences in
political culture.

James Gilmour
Scotland (where we use 5 different voting systems for public elections, including 3 different PR systems, one of which is
closed-list party-list)



> -----Original Message-----
> From: election-methods-bounces at lists.electorama.com 
> [mailto:election-methods-bounces at lists.electorama.com] On 
> Behalf Of Kathy Dopp
> Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2011 4:50 PM
> To: election-methods at lists.electorama.com
> Subject: [EM] What's wrong with the party list system?
> 
> 
> Someone from Europe on this list recently said that they did 
> not like the party list system.  Why not?  Party list seems 
> like a fair, simple system of electing legislators who 
> represent people in approximately the same proportion that 
> they exist in the electorate.  I have not found a 
> better-sounding proportional system yet. So, what's wrong 
> with the party list system?
> 
> -- 
> 
> Kathy Dopp