Closed list
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Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively vote for only political parties as a whole; thus they have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters had some influence, that would be called an open list. Closed list systems are still commonly used in party-list proportional representation, and most mixed electoral systems also use closed lists in their party list component. Many countries, however have changed their electoral systems to use open lists to incorporate personalised representation to their proportional systems.
In closed list systems, each political party has pre-decided who will receive the seats allocated to that party in the elections,[1] so that the candidates positioned highest on this list tend to always get a seat in the parliament while the candidates positioned very low on the closed list will not. However, the candidates "at the water mark" of a given party are in the position of either losing or winning their seat depending on the number of votes the party gets. "The water mark" is the number of seats a specific party can be expected to achieve. The number of seats that the party wins, combined with the candidates' positions on the party's list, will then determine whether a particular candidate will get a seat.
List of countries using closed list systems

Proportional representation
 Algeria Algeria
 Angola Angola
 Argentina Argentina
 Armenia Armenia
 Benin Benin
 Burkina Faso Burkina Faso
 Burundi Burundi
 Cambodia Cambodia
 Colombia (depending on the party) Colombia (depending on the party)
 Costa Rica Costa Rica
 Dominican Republic[2] Dominican Republic[2]
 Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea
 Guatemala Guatemala
 Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau
 Guyana Guyana
 Hong Kong (1997–2016) Hong Kong (1997–2016)
 Israel Israel
 Kazakhstan[3] Kazakhstan[3]
 Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan
 Lithuania (1992–1997) (Seimas and municipalities' councils) Lithuania (1992–1997) (Seimas and municipalities' councils)
 Moldova Moldova
 Montenegro Montenegro
 Morocco Morocco
 Mozambique Mozambique
 Namibia[4] Namibia[4]
 Nicaragua Nicaragua
 Niger Niger
 North Macedonia North Macedonia
 Norway (de facto) Norway (de facto)
 Paraguay Paraguay
.svg.png) Portugal Portugal
 Romania[5] Romania[5]
 Rwanda Rwanda
 Serbia Serbia
 South Africa South Africa
 Spain Spain
 Sri Lanka Sri Lanka
 Timor-Leste Timor-Leste
.svg.png) Togo Togo
 Tunisia Tunisia
 Turkey Turkey
 Uruguay Uruguay
 Wales (from 2026)[6] Wales (from 2026)[6]
Mixed electoral systems
Mixed electoral system using closed lists for the proportional component
Majoritarian representation
Party block voting (general ticket) with a closed list
 Côte d'Ivoire  (party block voting in multi-member districts) Côte d'Ivoire  (party block voting in multi-member districts)
 Singapore (party block voting in multi-member districts) Singapore (party block voting in multi-member districts)
 United States (electoral college) United States (electoral college)
See also
References
- ^ "Open, Closed and Free Lists —". ACE Project. Archived from the original on 28 June 2020. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
- ^ "{title}". Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 November 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
- ^ Lundberg, Thomas Carl (22 October 2010). "Post-communism and the abandonment of mixedmember electoral systems" (PDF). University of Glasgow. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 January 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
- ^ "Elections - GRN Portal". www.ecn.na. Archived from the original on 21 July 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
- ^ Filimon, Paul (20 July 2015). "Legea ALEGERILOR PARLAMENTARE pe LISTE, promulgată de Iohannis". România Liberă (in Romanian). Archived from the original on 2 July 2017. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
- ^ "Historic Act strengthens democracy in Wales | GOV.WALES". 24 June 2024.
External links
- Country profiles at IFES
- Open, Closed and Free Lists at Ace Project









