The most widely used variant of proportional representation, in which each party puts forward a list of candidates for a multi-member constituency and voters choose a party rather than an individual candidate, with each party filling the seats it wins from its list in the order the list names them. Lists may be closed, where the party alone fixes the order and voters cannot change it, or open, where voters may indicate a preference among a party's own candidates. It was the form of proportional representation Belgium adopted in the reform of 29 December 1899, producing the first national election held under proportional representation on 27 May 1900, and it remains the dominant proportional method in continental Europe, Latin America and, in closed-list form, South Africa's National Assembly today.
Facts
Origin YearShares its origin year with this atlas's own Proportional Representation entity: the D'Hondt-based Belgian reform of 29 December 1899, which produced the first national party-list election on 27 May 1900. Party-list allocation was the specific method Belgium adopted, so the two entities record the same historical root rather than two independent dates. Founding ContextParty list systems were devised to translate a party's overall vote share into a matching share of legislative seats more directly than single member plurality voting can, by having voters choose between party lists of candidates rather than individual constituency representatives. Belgium's 1899 reform, using the D'Hondt method to allocate seats from party lists, produced the first national election run this way. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Germany, Countries Germany's additional-member system, adopted after World War II, is a party-list hybrid.
Italy, Countries Italy adopted a modified constituency-based party-list system to reduce the number of parties.
South Africa, Countries South Africa's National Assembly is elected entirely by closed-list proportional representation, half the seats from nine provincial lists and half from national lists to restore overall proportionality.
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