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Panachage (English:/ˌpænəˈʃɑːʒ/, from French meaning "blend, mixture")[1] is amixed single vote variant of listproportional representation. In panachage, voters support individual candidates (rather than parties). Voters have multiple votes, which they can split between individual candidates in different party lists. Seats are allocated to each party based on the number of votes for all of its candidates. Seats allocated to a party go to that party's most-popular candidates (assuming afully open list).[2]
The system is used in legislative elections forLiechtenstein,Luxembourg,Mauritius andSwitzerland; in national elections inEcuador,El Salvador, andHonduras; and in local elections in a majority ofGermanstates, inCzechia, and inFrench communes with under 1,000 inhabitants.[citation needed]
The North Staulsaw constituency in the Wafonian Republican Parliament elects six members using a fully open list. Three lists, containing twenty-two candidates in total, are vying for its seats. in this example, 40,500 votes are cast. The totals for each candidate and party are:
| Social Democratic Party | National Consolidation Party | League of Concerned Citizens | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | Candidate | Votes | Candidate | Votes |
| Alice Brown | 1,407 | Janek Campbell-Pitt | 4,662 | Sylvia Ambrosetti | 3,901 |
| Matt Wright | 3,901 | David "D-Dog" Ng | 4,195 | Sam Miller | 4,662 |
| Pranav Kapoor | 3,313 | Allison Cook | 3,901 | Pat Malkiewicz | 1,214 |
| Judy Bogart | 3,113 | Tricia Chapman | 5,873 | Rick Vogelman | 2,217 |
| Thomas McLeish | 3,213 | Nikki Norrman | 1,254 | David Higgins | 749 |
| Maurice Vuong | 2,725 | Gene MacDonald | 536 | Duncan Bradshaw | 328 |
| Sean Stephens | 1,867 | John Smith | 2,087 | John Johnson | 1 |
| Megan Vargas | 5,455 | Raymond Sullivan | 905 | Jane Janeson | 0 |
| SDP Total | 24,994 | NCP Total | 23,413 | LCC Total | 13,072 |
In the first step, seats areapportioned between the parties in according to their vote share. When using theD'Hondt method of rounding, the Social Democratic Party wins 3 seats, the NCP 2, and the LCC 1. (Seehighest averages method for further explanation.)
The SDP seats go to its most popular three candidates by vote tally: Megan Vargas, Matt Wright, and Pranav Kapoor. The NCP seats go to its top two candidates, Janek Campbell-Pitt and Tricia Chapman. The LCC seat goes to Sam Miller.
From1912 to1948, and from1958 and1962, Argentine voters had the possibility of crossing out or adding candidates to the electoral lists of the legislative elections.[3][clarification needed]
Panachage was used in Austria until the 1970s.[4]
Until theparliamentary elections of 1900, panachage was allowed in provincial and parliamentary elections inBelgium. Candidates were placed on lists in alphabetical order of surname.[5]
Municipal elections were held under the panachage system starting in 1932 until passage of the 5 July 1976 Law. This change was adopted before the first elections (October 1976) following the1976 communes merger, which reduced the number of Belgian communes from 2,359 to 596. Bills were introduced in 1995 and 1999 bysenators from theVolksunie to reinstitute panachage, but they were never put to votes.[6][7]
In theEcuadorian parliamentary elections, voters have as many votes as there are seats to be filled. They may use their votes to support candidates across party lines (and they may also give several votes to a single candidate).[8]
El Salvador adopted anopen list proportional system for the2012 legislative elections. It introduced panachage for the2015 elections:
"For the first time, voters will be able to select individual candidates from any party rather than being forced to vote for a single party with an established list of candidates. Voters can still opt to simply choose a party."[9][10][11]
Since2014, voters inmunicipal elections in communes having fewer than 1,000 inhabitants (at the time: 26,879 communes, representing 73.5% of the total) have been able to cast ballot papers indicating their preference for candidates either listed or named individually, and, in addition, cross out if they so wish the names of one or more candidates. (Before that time, the upper population limit for communes qualified for this system of voting had been 3,500.) The number of candidates selected by a voter must not, however, exceed the total number of available seats.[12]
Until a reform effective 17 May 2013, voters had been able to write in the names of other, unlisted eligible citizens. But now all nominations must be filed in advance with the prefecture or sub-prefecture, and voters may no longer add names on election day.[13]
Of sixteenfederal states, two (Bremen andHamburg, both of which are city-states) have adopted electoral systems including panachage (Panaschieren) for state and municipal elections. Eleven others use the system only for municipal elections.Schleswig-Holstein usesblock plurality voting to select candidates from lists, i.e. voters may only give one vote to a candidate they support. In all other states allowing panachage, voters maygive more than one vote for one or several candidate(s) (cumulative voting).Berlin,North Rhine-Westphalia andSaarland do not use panachage.[14][15]
Panachage within an open list proportional system has been used since2005 for legislative elections inHonduras.[16]
In all proportional elections,[17] such as those for theChamber of Deputies, a voter in Luxembourg has as many votes as there are seats to be filled in that constituency. The individual may vote either for candidates on the same list or for candidates on different lists and may allocate up to two votes to a single candidate.[18]
In Switzerland, in addition to being able to distribute their votes between different lists, voters may add names to lists or delete one or more of the names appearing on others. Each candidate can be placed up to two times on the ballot paper.[4] This practice is known ascumulative voting.[clarification needed]
