Home > 3.2 Proportional systems > Report on Proportional Electoral Systems: The Allocation of seats inside the lists (open/closed) lists
 
 
 
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Paragraph 54
 

With open-list systems, the ballot design is a challenge. With closed-list systems, only the party name needs to appear on the ballot. On the contrary, with open-list systems, the voter must be given the opportunity to cast a vote for a candidate as well. If all candidates of all parties are to appear on one ballot, it may become very large. This is the case in for example Bosnia and Herzegovina. In other countries, like in Estonia and Finland, the problem is solved by giving a number to all individual candidates and the voter enters the number of the preferred candidate on the ballot, which count both for the individual vote and for the party vote. In that case, the voter only cast one individual vote and lists of all candidates need to be posted in the polling station. The parties and candidates would also use the numbers in their campaign to ensure that the voters know how to vote. If voters would be offered more extensive choices, that would not work. In Norway, the ballot problem is solved by printing separate ballots for each party. All ballots will be available in the polling booth and the voter will take the ballot of the preferred party. If the vote cast remains unchanged, it is counted as a vote for the party’s priority, but the voter may also change the sequence and delete candidates from the list.