Individual Candidates and Party Lists

Organisations that comply with the provisions of the Act on the Functioning and Financing of Political Parties (hereinafter: parties) may nominate individual candidates and party lists in the parliamentary elections. Overwhelming majority of the candidates in the 176 single-member constituencies are put forward or supported by parties. Candidates may also be nominated by two or more parties, jointly. Independent candidates may also run for seats in the single-member constituencies. Independence means that the candidate has no political (party) commitment.

In a single-member constituency the recommendations of at least 750 voters living in the constituency are required for nomination (both for independent and party candidates). Citizens receive an official announcement on having been registered in the voters' list and a coupon for recommending a candidate. Voters may recommend a candidate by filling in and signing the coupon. One voter may recommend only one candidate.
In regional (county and capital) constituencies only parties may nominate on regional lists. A regional list may be drawn up by the party that has individual candidates in a quarter but in at least two of the single-member constituencies within the regional constituency. Parties on the basis of their common single-member constituency nomination - with the participation of the same parties - may commonly present regional lists. Thrice as many candidates may be nominated on the regional list as there are mandates obtainable on that list. You can find information of the number of obtainable mandates on the regional lists and the number of single-member constituencies where the nomination of candidates is a precondition of presenting a regional list on the page Electoral districts.

A national list may be presented by the party that has set up lists in at least seven regional constituencies. Parties may present common national lists on the basis of common regional lists, with the participation of the same parties. Thrice as many candidates may be nominated on the national list as there are mandates obtainable on this list (3x58=174 candidates). Voters cannot vote for the national lists, as they are compensatory lists. The mandates (parliamentary seats) are distributed among these lists in proportion to the votes cast for individual candidates of the parties that have not obtained seats and the votes cast for regional lists that have not resulted mandates.