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Elections in Liechtenstein take place at a national level within a multi-party system, with two dominant political parties. The Landtag of Liechtenstein has 25 members, elected for a four-year term by proportional representation in two multi-seat constituencies.
The country became a democracy in 1984 when it replaced universal male suffrage with universal suffrage, following a national referendum.
A variation of the standard party-list proportional format is used to elect 15 members from the district of Oberland and 10 members from the district of Unterland. The highest-remainder method dictates each party’s seat total in a district based on their vote share (which will be covered in more detail) there. Elections in these two districts are essentially separate, and the individual municipal divisions technically play no role in determining the eventual winners.
There are four parties currently registered in Liechtenstein: the Progressive Citizen’s Party (FBP), Patriotic Union (VU), the Independents (DU), and Free List (FL). Each party may nominate as many candidates in a district as can be elected there (15 available for Oberland and 10 for Unterland). Voters are assigned voting locations (either Oberland or Unterland district) based on their living. When voting, each voter must choose one party but is allowed to select as many candidates as they like (but only up to the maximum given: 15 candidate votes per Oberland voter and 10 candidate votes for each Unterland voter).
Any ballots without a single party mark at the top are considered void, but will be accepted no matter how many candidates are chosen. If more candidates are chosen than the limit, the candidates following the fifteenth (if in Oberland) or tenth (if in Unterland) are ignored and only the first 15 (Oberland) or 10 (Unterland) distinct choices will count. If the name of a candidate is repeated, only in the first instance where the candidate is named is taken into consideration and all subsequent mentions are ignored.
Although the number of candidates selected by each voter can vary and is up to their own determination, Oberland voters still must cast 15 total votes, and Unterland voters always give 10. The difference is made through the candidate rankings, which will be discussed later. Each candidate that is chosen by a voter counts as a vote for that candidate’s party. Each remaining vote out of the 15 (for Oberland) or 10 (for Unterland) corresponding to the number of candidates not chosen counts as a vote for the party initially specified by the voter.
For example, if a voter from Oberland chooses the FBP as their party of choice, and then chooses 4 candidates from the VU, 2 candidates from the FBP, and 1 candidate from the DU, then the party votes that this voter has cast are 4 for the VU, 1 for the DU, and 10 for the FBP (by virtue of the 2 votes for candidates from this party and the 8 remaining, empty candidate votes). Likewise, if an Unterland voter chooses DU as their party of choice, then casts 18 votes for the same FBP candidate and a vote for each of 2 VU candidates, then this voter’s party votes are counted as 1 for the FBP (since only 1 FBP candidate was selected), 2 for the VU, and 7 for the DU due to the 7 remaining candidate votes.
Note that it is impossible for a voter to cast votes for any party other than the one listed at the top of their ballot without selecting the requisite number of candidates from that party. This has been criticized by some as restricting the freedom of voters to choose multiple parties while refraining from supporting at least 1 particular candidate.
Also keep in mind that a maximum of 1 vote can be cast for each candidate by a single voter, and thus it would be impossible for a given voter to cast multiple votes for a single candidate. Especially because parties may not nominate a full slate in a given district since the party usually desires maximum influence on the candidates elected and because it is unlikely for the party to win a very large majority of seats that they had not anticipated, voters who support just one party have complained that their influence is diminished because they can only support the candidates their party has nominated and thus their remaining votes would only count as party votes and not also candidate votes.
Additionally as fact, the expected transition by Liechtenstein authorities to new, electronic voting machines could eliminate the possibility of a voter selecting too many candidates, especially if mistakenly believing that they would all be counted and being told that they could only vote for 15 in the Oberland and 10 in the Unterland. The party choice for each voter does not matter if the voter chooses the maximum number of candidates that they are allowed (15 in Oberland and 10 in Unterland) but makes a difference of one party vote if they leave one candidate choice blank, and it counts as two party votes if two are unchecked.
Once the number of seats for each party in every district has been determined by the party vote count in that district, the corresponding candidates of that party with the highest number of votes are elected. For example, if the VU is given three seats in Unterland, then the 3 most popular VU candidates in Unterland are elected as the 3 representatives of the VU from the Unterland, regardless of how many votes these candidates garnered in relation to candidates from other parties.
If a party is given more seats in a district than the number of candidates that it has nominated there, then the extra seats are redistributed to the other parties as if the party of concern had not received that many votes also by using the Hare quota. In this case, the maximum number of seats that this party can earn in the relevant district is also equivalent to the total candidates it has nominated there.
It is important to note that votes for a party and votes for candidates are separate and affect the count differently: as explained above, party votes are used only for determining the number of seats given to a party in each district, while candidate votes determine which candidates from a party win election from each district, this value corresponding to the number of seats that the party in question receives as determined in the previous step.
This is also why the two districts are not compared outside of the separate elections: Oberland voters get 15 votes each and Unterland voters 10 votes, which would distort support if a party’s vote share is different between the two districts. However, this is evened out because the seats are determined by district, and therefore both districts are approximately equally represented since the ratio of seats between them must be roughly proportional to their population difference.
The following graph depicts general election results since the introduction of the proportional representation system in 1945:
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Liechtenstein is a principality governed under a semi-constitutional monarchy. It has a form of mixed constitution in which political power is shared by the monarch and a democratically elected parliament. There is a two-party system and a form of representative democracy in which the prime minister and head of government is responsible to parliament. However the Prince of Liechtenstein is head of state and exercises considerable political powers.
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 – not just a bare plurality or (exclusively) the majority – and that the system produces mixed, balanced representation reflecting how votes are cast.
The single transferable vote (STV), sometimes known as proportional ranked choice voting (P-RCV), is a multi-winner electoral system in which each voter casts a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate preferences if their preferred candidate is eliminated or elected with surplus votes, so that their vote is used to elect someone they prefer over others in the running. STV aims to approach proportional representation based on votes cast in the district where it is used, so that each vote is worth about the same as another. Formally, STV satisfies a fairness criterion known as proportionality for solid coalitions.
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.
Block voting, also known as bloc voting, refers to certain 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.
The Progressive Citizens' Party in Liechtenstein is a conservative political party in Liechtenstein. The FBP is one of the two major political parties in Liechtenstein, along with the liberal-conservative Patriotic Union. Founded in 1918 along with the now-defunct Christian-Social People's Party, it is the oldest extant party in Liechtenstein.
The 1926 Alberta general election was held on June 28, 1926, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The United Farmers of Alberta government that had first been elected in 1921 was re-elected, taking a majority of the seats in the Alberta Legislature. Herbert Greenfield had resigned as United Farmers leader and premier, and John E. Brownlee led the UFA to this second election victory, increasing the UFA's number of seats.
All elections in the Czech Republic are based on the principle of universal suffrage. Any adult citizen who is at least 18 years old can vote, except those who have been stripped of their legal capacities by a court, usually on the basis of mental illness. Elected representatives are elected directly by the citizens without any intermediaries. Election laws are not part of the constitution, but – unlike regular laws – they cannot be changed without the consensus of both houses of the Parliament. The Czech Republic uses a two-round plurality voting system for the presidential and Senate elections and an open party-list proportional representation system for all other elections. The proportional representation system uses the D'Hondt method for allocating seats.
The Landtag of the Principality of Liechtenstein, commonly referred to as the Landtag of Liechtenstein, is the unicameral parliament of Liechtenstein.
Parliamentary elections were held in Russia on 12 December 1993. They were the first parliamentary elections in post-Soviet Russia and the only time to the Federation Council, with future members appointed by provincial legislatures and governors.
There are a number of complications and issues surrounding the application and use of single transferable vote proportional representation that form the basis of discussions between its advocates and detractors.
Panachage is an open-list proportional representation system. It gives voters more than one vote in the same ballot and allows them to distribute their votes between or among individual candidates from different party lists. Seats are allocated to parties based on party vote share, with the seats of a party going to the most-popular candidate(s) of that party. It is therefore a mixture of proportional representation at the party level with primary elections at the individual candidate level, which are held by plurality block voting.
Electoral districts go by different names depending on the country and the office being elected.
A referendum on the introduction of women's suffrage in national elections was held in Liechtenstein on 1 July 1984. Following the introduction of female suffrage in neighbouring Switzerland at the federal level after a referendum in 1971, Liechtenstein had been the only remaining European country to deny women the right to vote. Referendums had been held in 1968, 1971 and 1973, but on each occasion men had rejected its introduction, despite the support of newspapers and both major political parties. Nevertheless, some municipalities had since introduced female suffrage at a local level, starting with Vaduz in 1976, and women had been elected to the local councils of Vaduz and Gamprin in 1983.
General elections were held in Liechtenstein on 11 March 1918, with a second round on 18 March. They were the first elections held in the country contested by political parties, as the Christian-Social People's Party and Progressive Citizens' Party had been founded that year. The Progressive Citizens' Party emerged as the largest in the Landtag, winning seven of the 12 elected seats.
General elections were held in Liechtenstein on 3 February 2013, using a proportional representation system. Four parties contested the elections; the centre-right Patriotic Union (VU) and Progressive Citizens' Party (FBP), centre-left Free List (FL) and newly created populist alliance The Independents (DU).
Dual-member proportional representation (DMP), also known as dual-member mixed proportional, is an electoral system designed to produce proportional election results across a region by electing two representatives in each of the region’s districts. The first seat in every district is awarded to the candidate who receives the most votes, similar to first-past-the-post voting (FPTP). The second seat is awarded to one of the remaining district candidates so that proportionality is achieved across the region, using a calculation that aims to award parties their seats in the districts where they had their strongest performances.
General elections were held in Liechtenstein on 5 February 2017 to elect the 25 members of the Landtag.
General elections were held in Liechtenstein on 7 February 2021 to elect the 25 members of the Landtag. The Patriotic Union (VU) and Progressive Citizens' Party (FBP) both won ten seats, with the VU receiving just 42 votes more than the FBP. The Independents (DU), which finished third in the 2017 elections but then suffered a split in 2018 when three of its five MPs broke away to form Democrats for Liechtenstein (DpL), failed to win a seat, while DpL won two. The Free List retained its three seats, becoming the third-largest party in the Landtag.
General elections are scheduled to be held in Liechtenstein on 2 February 2025 to elect the 25 members of the Landtag. They will be the 49th general elections since the ratification of the 1862 constitution.
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