Electoral symbol

An electoral symbol is a standardised symbol allocated to an independent candidate or political party by a country's election commission for use in election ballots.

Usage

Symbols are used by parties in their campaigning, and printed on ballot papers where a voter must make a mark to vote for the associated party. One of their purposes is to facilitate voting by illiterate people, who cannot read candidates' names on ballot papers. ^[1]

Colloquial symbols

In the United States, the Democratic Party has been associated with imagery of donkeys. This use was derived from opponents of then-president Andrew Jackson insulting him as a "jackass" to characterize his stubbornness, and later popularized in 1870 by political cartoonist Thomas Nast. In 1874, Nast also popularized the contrasting use of an elephant to similarly symbolize the Republican Party. ^{[2] [3]}

The Republican Party has since used an elephant as part of its official branding. While the donkey is widely-used by Democrats as an unofficial mascot, the party's first official logo—adopted in 2010—is an encircled "D". ^{[4] [3] [2]} In some regions, the two parties may be associated with other symbols, such as a star and bald eagle respectively. ^[5]

Logos

Some countries have party logos or flags appear on the ballot. In New Zealand, the party logo is part of the party's official registration. ^[6]

Standardised symbols

Mural in Kerala showing the hand of the Indian National Congress

India has a system of standardised symbols, which was adopted due to low literacy rates at the time of its independence. Parties can either choose from a catalog provided by the Election Commission of India or suggest their own symbol. ^{[7] [8]} The catalog includes items such as a ceiling fan, purse, mango, air conditioner, or broom, with some items being adopted by parties for symbolic reasons. ^{[7] [9]} A symbol assigned to a party designated as a national party can not be used by other parties in the country. A symbol assigned to a state party in one state can be allocated to different state party in another state. ^{[10] [7] [8]}

A similar system is used in Pakistan, where parties and candidates must be identified via one of the symbols approved by the Election Commission of Pakistan, such as the Pakistan People's Party arrow, the Pakistan Muslim League (N) tiger, and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf cricket bat (in reference to party founder Imran Khan being a retired player). ^[11]

The availability and assignments of certain symbols have led to controversies; in Pakistan the book icon has faced criticism from secularist parties who believed that its assignment to Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) allowed it to be presented as the Quran ^{[12] [1]} The Indian National Congress's hand was the target of conspiracy theories that stated it was an Islamic symbol. ^[13]

Numbers

Some countries assign numbers to parties, such as the two-digit electoral numbers in Brazil.^{[ citation needed ]}

Letters

A system of 1–4 Hebrew letters and additional symbols of 1–4 Arabic letters is used in Israel (this also facilitates voters whose knowledge of Hebrew or Arabic, the two most spoken languages, is limited). ^[14]

Traditional letter combinations

Letters	Historical owner	Debut	Component	Historical Owner	Debut	Component #2	Historical Owner	Debut
מחל‎	Likud (Likud–Gesher–Tzomet, Likud Beiteinu)	1973	חל	Gahal	1965	ח	Herut	1949
						ל	Israeli Liberal Party	1961
אמת‎	Israeli Labor Party, The Democrats (Alignment, One Israel, Zionist Union, Labor-Gesher-Meretz)	1969	את‎	Alignment	1965	א‎	Mapai	1949
						ו‎ת	Ahdut HaAvoda	1955
			מ	Mapam	1949
מרצ‎	Meretz (Democratic Union)	1992
			רצ‎	Ratz	1973
טב	National Religious Party–Religious Zionism (National Union–Mafdal, The Jewish Home, Union of Right-Wing Parties, Yamina)	2006	ט	Moledet, National Union–Tkuma (National Union, Religious Zionist Party)	1988
			ב	Mizrachi, National Religious Party, The Jewish Home, Yamina (United Religious Front, National Religious Front)	1949
גד	Religious Torah Front	1955	ג‎	Agudat Yisrael (United Torah Judaism)	1951
			ד	Poalei Agudat Yisrael	1951

Danish and Icelandic parties are identified by a singular "party letter", which may or may not be the initial letter of the party's name. Denmark uses a separate set of letters for parliamentary minutes and documents which differ from the electoral ones. In Iceland, the party letters were initially assigned alphabetically in order of the establishment date; today new letters are chosen by the Icelandic Ministry of Justice. ^{[15] [16]}

References

1. "With Pakistan Vote Looming, Ballot Symbols Prove A Tricky Topic". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 2012-12-03. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
2. Rodibaugh, Jennifer J. (Spring–Summer 2008). "Cartoonery: When Donkey and Elephant First Clashed". American Heritage. 58 (4). Archived from the original on September 18, 2010. Retrieved June 15, 2018.
3. John William Ward (1962). Andrew Jackson: Symbol for an Age . Oxford Up. pp.  87–88. ISBN   9780199923205.
4. Good, Chris (2010-09-15). "Democratic Party Steals Logo From the Pizza Place Where I Used to Work". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
5. Tomas Lopez (October 23, 2014). "Poor Ballot Design Hurts New York's Minor Parties ... Again". Brennan Center for Justice. Archived from the original on February 7, 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
6. "Register of political parties". Electoral Commission . Retrieved 16 February 2026.
7. Holland, Oscar; Suri, Manveena (2019-04-12). "Ceiling fans, brooms and mangoes: The election symbols of India's political parties". CNN. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
8. Iwanek, Krzysztof. "The Curious Stories of Indian Party Symbols". The Diplomat. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
9. Chari, Mridula (2 April 2014). "The bizarre world of India's political party symbols includes a nail cutter and a stethoscope". Quartz. Retrieved 16 February 2026.
10. Michael Gallagher; Paul Mitchell (15 September 2005). The Politics of Electoral Systems. OUP Oxford. p. 142. ISBN   978-0-19-153151-4.
11. "In Pakistan, election symbols speak louder than words". Arab News. 2018-07-23. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
12. Khattak, Daud (2012-12-04). "The Problem With Using Symbols on Ballots in Pakistan". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
13. Banerjee-Fischer, Joanna (27 January 2024). "What do India's political logos symbolize?". Deutsche Welle . Retrieved 16 February 2026.
14. "Israeli Election Day is still surprisingly low-tech". 8 April 2019.
15. "Partigruppernes bogstaver". Folketinget (in Danish).
16. Hawkins, Mary; Onnudottir, Helena (21 May 2020). "From Resurrection and New Dawn to the Pirate Party: Political Party Names as Symbolizing Recent Transformations in the Political Field in Iceland". In Gill, Graeme; Angosto-Ferrandez, Luis F. (eds.). Symbolism and Politics. Taylor & Francis. ISBN   9781000727937.