| Part of the Politics and Economics series |
| Electoral systems |
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 Politicsportal  Economicsportal |
This is a list of electoral systems by country in alphabetical order. An electoral system is used to elect national legislatures and heads of state.
Single-winner system / single-member constituencies (non-proportional) Multi-member constituencies, majoritarian (non-proportional) Multi-member constituencies, semi-proportional Multi-member constituencies, proportional | Mixed non-compensatory (semi-proportional) Mixed-member majoritarian (MMM): parallel voting (TRS and list PR) Mixed-member majoritarian (MMM): parallel voting (BV/PBV and list PR) Parallel voting (SNTV and list PR) Mixed compensatory (proportional or semi-proportional) | Indirect election Partly elected by electoral college or local legislatures, partly appointed by head of state Other No election (e.g. Monarchy) Appointed by head of state Varies by federal states or constituencies No information/Unicameral legislature |
According to the Economist Democracy Index 2023 on electoral process and pluralism. These countries have no elections or sham elections.
| Country | Body or office | Type of body or office | Electoral system | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afghanistan | Currently no elections are held | |||
| Azerbaijan | President | Head of State | First-past-the-post | |
| National Assembly | Unicameral legislature | First-past-the-post | ||
| Bahrain | King | Head of State | Hereditary monarchy | |
| Consultative Council | Upper chamber of legislature | Appointed by the King | ||
| Council of Representatives | Lower chamber of legislature | Two-round system | ||
| Belarus | President | Head of State and Government | Two-round system | |
| Council of Republic | Upper chamber of legislature | Elected by regional councils | ||
| House of Representatives | Lower chamber of legislature | First-past-the-post | ||
| Brunei | Currently no elections are held | |||
| Burkina Faso | Currently no elections are held | |||
| Burundi | President | Head of State and Government | Two-round system | |
| Senate | Upper chamber of legislature |
| ||
| National Assembly | Lower chamber of legislature | Party-list proportional representation | ||
| Cambodia | King | Head of State | Elective monarchy | |
| Senate | Upper chamber of legislature |
| ||
| National Assembly | Lower chamber of legislature | Party-list proportional representation | ||
| Cameroon | President | Head of State and Government | First-past-the-post | |
| Senate | Upper chamber of legislature |
| ||
| National Assembly | Lower chamber of legislature |
| ||
| Central African Republic | President | Head of State and Government | Two-round system | |
| National Assembly | Lower chamber of legislature | Two-round system | ||
| Chad | Currently no elections are held | |||
| China | Currently no elections are held | |||
| Comoros | President | Head of State and Government | Two-round system | |
| Assembly of the Union | Unicameral legislature | Two-round system | ||
| Democratic Republic of the Congo | President | Head of State | First-past-the-post | |
| Senate | Upper chamber of legislature |
| ||
| National Assembly | Lower chamber of legislature | |||
| Republic of the Congo | President | Head of State | Two-round system | |
| Senate | Upper chamber of legislature | Elected by regional councils | ||
| National Assembly | Lower chamber of legislature | Two-round system | ||
| Cuba | President | Head of state | Elected by the National Assembly | |
| National Assembly of People's Power | Unicameral legislature | Two-round system | ||
| Djibouti | President | Head of State and Government | Two-round system | |
| National Assembly | Unicameral legislature | Mixed-member majoritarian:
| ||
| East Timor | President | Head of State | Two-round system | |
| Parliament | Unicameral legislature | Party-list proportional representation | ||
| Ecuador | President | Head of State and Government | Two-round system | |
| National Congress | Unicameral legislature | Party-list proportional representation | ||
| Egypt | President | Head of State | Two-round system | |
| House of Representatives | Unicameral legislature | Parallel voting:
| ||
| Equatorial Guinea | President | Head of State and Government | First-past-the-post | |
| Senate | Upper chamber of legislature |
| ||
| Chamber of People's Representatives | Lower chamber of legislature | Party-list proportional representation | ||
| Eritrea | Currently no elections are held | |||
| Eswatini | Ngwenyama | Head of State | Hereditary monarchy | |
| Senate | Upper chamber of legislature |
| ||
| House of Assembly | Lower chamber of legislature | First-past-the-post | ||
| Ethiopia | President | Head of State | Elected by the Federal Parliamentary Assembly | |
| House of Federation | Upper chamber of legislature | Elected by the State Councils | ||
| House of Peoples' Representatives | Lower chamber of legislature | First-past-the-post | ||
| Gabon | Currently no elections are held | |||
| Guinea | Currently no elections are held | |||
| Guinea-Bissau | President | Head of State | Two-round system | |
| National People's Assembly | Unicameral legislature | Party-list proportional representation | ||
| Haiti | President | Head of State | Two-round system | |
| Senate | Upper chamber of legislature | Two-round system | ||
| Chamber of Deputies | Lower chamber of legislature | Two-round system | ||
| Iran | Supreme Leader | Head of State | Elected by the Assembly of Experts | |
| President | Head of Government | Two-round system | ||
| Islamic Consultative Assembly | Unicameral legislature | |||
| Assembly of Experts | Electoral College | |||
| Kuwait | Emir | Head of state | Hereditary monarchy | |
| National Assembly | Unicameral legislature | Single non-transferable vote | ||
| Laos | President | Head of state | Elected by the National Assembly | |
| National Assembly | Unicameral legislature | Plurality block voting | ||
| Libya | Currently no elections are held | |||
| Mali | Currently no elections are held | |||
| Mauritania | President | Head of State | Two-round system | |
| National Assembly | Unicameral legislature |
| ||
| Mozambique | President | Head of State and Government | Two-round system | |
| Assembly of the Republic | Unicameral legislature | Party-list proportional representation | ||
| Myanmar | Currently no elections are held | |||
| Nicaragua | President | Head of State and Government | First-past-the-post | |
| National Assembly | Unicameral legislature | Party-list proportional representation | ||
| Niger | Currently no elections are held | |||
| North Korea | Supreme People's Assembly | Unicameral legislature | First-past-the-post | |
| Oman | Sultan | Head of State and Government | Hereditary monarchy | |
| Council of State | Upper chamber of legislature | Appointed by the Sultan | ||
| Consultative Assembly | Lower chamber of legislature | Single non-transferable vote | ||
| Qatar | Emir | Head of state | Hereditary monarchy | |
| Consultative Assembly | Unicameral legislature | First-past-the-post | ||
| Russia | President | Head of State | Two-round system | |
| Federation Council | Upper chamber of legislature | Elected by federal subjects' legislatures | ||
| State Duma | Lower chamber of legislature | Parallel voting:
| ||
| Rwanda | President | Head of State and Government | First-past-the-post | |
| Senate | Upper chamber of legislature |
| ||
| Chamber of Deputies | Lower chamber of legislature |
| ||
| Saudi Arabia | Currently no elections are held | |||
| South Sudan | Currently no elections are held | |||
| Sudan | Currently no elections are held | |||
| Suriname | President | Head of State and Government | Elected by the National Assembly | |
| National Assembly | Unicameral legislature | Party-list proportional representation | ||
| Syria | President | Head of State and Government | Two-round system | |
| People's Council | Unicameral legislature | Party block voting | ||
| Tajikistan | President | Head of State and Government | Two-round system | |
| National Assembly | Upper chamber of legislature |
| ||
| Assembly of Representatives | Lower chamber of legislature | Parallel voting:
| ||
| Togo | President | Head of State and Government | Two-round system | |
| National Assembly | Unicameral legislature | Party-list proportional representation | ||
| Turkmenistan | President | Head of State and Government | Two-round system | |
| Assembly | Unicameral of legislature | First-past-the-post | ||
| Uzbekistan | President | Head of State and Government | Two-round system | |
| Senate | Upper chamber of legislature |
| ||
| Legislative Chamber | Lower chamber of legislature | Two-round system | ||
| Vatican City | Pope | Head of State | Elective monarchy | |
| Venezuela | President | Head of State and Government | First-past-the-post | |
| National Assembly | Unicameral legislature | Parallel voting:
| ||
| Vietnam | President | Head of State | Elected by the National Assembly | |
| National Assembly | Unicameral legislature | Two-round system | ||
| Yemen | Currently no elections are held | |||
| Zimbabwe | President | Head of State and Government | Two-round system | |
| Senate | Upper chamber of legislature |
| ||
| National Assembly | Lower chamber of legislature | Parallel voting:
| ||
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Proportional representation (PR) refers to any type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions among voters. The essence of such systems is that all votes cast – or almost all votes cast – contribute to the result and are effectively used to help elect someone. Under other election systems, a bare plurality or a scant majority are all that are used to elect candidates. Further, a PR system is one that produces mixed and balanced representation, reflecting how votes are cast.
Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a system of proportional representation based on preregistered political parties, with each party being allocated a certain number of seats roughly proportional to their share of the vote.
Single non-transferable vote or SNTV is an electoral system used to elect multiple winners. It is a generalization of first-past-the-post, applied to multi-member districts with each voter casting just one vote. Unlike FPTP, which is a single-winner system, in SNTV multiple winners are elected, typically in electoral districts; additionally, unlike FPTP, SNTV produces mixed representation and makes it unlikely for a single party to take all the seats in a city or a set area, which can happen under FPTP.
Mixed-member proportional representation is a mixed electoral system which combines local majoritarian elections with a compensatory tier of party list votes, which are used to allocate additional members in a way that aims to produce proportional representation overall. In most MMP systems, voters get two votes: one to decide the representative for their single-seat constituency, and one for a political party. Some countries use single vote variants of MMP, although this article focuses primarily on dual vote versions of MMP.
Block or bloc voting refers to a class of electoral systems where multiple candidates are elected simultaneously. They do not guarantee minority representation and allow a group of voters to ensure that only their preferred candidates are elected. In these systems, a voter can select as many candidates as there are open seats. That is, the voter has as many votes to cast as the number of seats to fill. The block voting systems are among various election systems available for use in multi-member districts where the voting system allows for the selection of multiple winners at once.
Parallel voting is a type of mixed electoral system in which representatives are voted into a single chamber using two or more different systems, most often first-past-the-post voting (FPTP) with party-list proportional representation (PR). It is the most common form of mixed member majoritarian representation (MMM), which is why these terms are often used synonymously with each other. In some countries, parallel voting is known as the supplementary member (SM) system, while in academic literature it is sometimes called the superposition method within mixed systems.
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.
The International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) is an international, non-profit organisation founded in 1987. Based in Arlington, Virginia, United States, the organization assists and supports elections and electoral stakeholders. Since 1987, IFES has worked in 145 countries and has programs in more than 50 countries throughout Asia-Pacific, Africa, Eurasia, the Middle East, and North Africa, and the Americas.
Nauru elects on a national level a head of state and a legislature. Parliament has 19 members, elected for a three-year term in multi-seat constituencies. The president is elected for a three-year term by the parliament.
In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to positions within a city or town are often known as "municipal elections". Their form and conduct vary widely across jurisdictions.
The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance is an intergovernmental organization that works to support and strengthen democratic institutions and processes around the world, to develop sustainable, effective and legitimate democracies. It has regional offices in Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific, Africa and West Asia, and North America. The organization is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden.
Block plurality voting is a winner-take-all method for multi-winner elections. Each voter may cast as many votes as the number of seats to be filled. The usual result when the candidates divide into parties is that the most popular party in the district sees its full slate of candidates elected.
Electoral boundary delimitation is the drawing of boundaries of electoral precincts and related divisions involved in elections, such as states, counties or other municipalities. It can also be called "redistribution" and is used to prevent unbalance of population across districts. In the United States, it is called redistricting. Unbalanced or discriminatory delimitation is called "gerrymandering." Though there are no internationally agreed processes that guarantee fair delimitation, several organizations, such as the Commonwealth Secretariat, the European Union and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) have proposed guidelines for effective delimitation.
The ACE Electoral Knowledge Network is a web portal with information on elections designed to meet the needs of people working in the electoral field.
An electoral system or voting system is a set of rules that determine how elections and referendums are conducted and how their results are determined. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political elections may take place in business, non-profit organisations and informal organisations. These rules govern all aspects of the voting process: when elections occur, who is allowed to vote, who can stand as a candidate, how ballots are marked and cast, how the ballots are counted, how votes translate into the election outcome, limits on campaign spending, and other factors that can affect the result. Political electoral systems are defined by constitutions and electoral laws, are typically conducted by election commissions, and can use multiple types of elections for different offices.
Electoral integrity refers to the fairness of the entire voting process and how well the process protects against election subversion, voter suppression, and other threats to free and fair elections. The consequences of unfree or unfair elections can include doubts in the legitimacy of the outcome, loss of faith in the democratic system, and reduced future participation.
The European Centre for Electoral Support (ECES) is a not-for-profit, private, non-partisan and independent foundation with its headquarters in the capital of Belgium, Brussels.
A mixed electoral system or mixed-member electoral system combines methods of majoritarian and proportional representation (PR). The majoritarian component is usually first-past-the-post voting (FPTP/SMP), whereas the proportional component is most often based on party-list PR. The results of the combination may be mixed-member proportional (MMP), where the overall results of the elections are proportional, or mixed-member majoritarian, in which case the overall results are semi-proportional, retaining disproportionalities from the majoritarian component.
Mixed-member majoritarian representation (MMM) is type of a mixed electoral system combining winner-take-all and proportional methods, where the disproportional results of the winner-take-all part are dominant over the proportional component. Mixed member majoritarian systems are therefore categorized under semi-proportional representation, and are usually contrasted with mixed-member proportional representation (MMP) which aims to provide proportional representation compensation ("top-up") seats.
