2.8 Voting method (electoral system)

Free and fair elections are a central feature of, and a necessary condition for, representative democracy.

An electoral system is a set of rules that determine how elections and referendums are conducted and how their results are determined.

• Electoral systems consist of sets of rules that govern all aspects of the voting process: e.g. how ballots are marked and cast, how do the ballot papers look, how the ballots are counted (voting method), what are magnitudes of voting districts, are there any formal electoral thresholds of representation used in elections, etc.