enmansval

Enmansval, in Swedish political science, describes an electoral arrangement in which each electoral district elects a single representative to the legislature. This contrasts with proportional representation systems, where seats are allocated to parties based on total vote shares. In enmansval, the geographic district is the basic unit of representation, and voters typically choose among individual candidates rather than party lists.

How the winner is determined varies by system. In the common first-past-the-post variant, the candidate who receives the most votes wins, even without an absolute majority. Other variants used in single-member districts include ranked-choice or instant-runoff voting, where voters rank candidates and votes are redistributed until a candidate achieves a majority, and two-round systems, where a second election resolves races without a clear winner in the first round.

Many jurisdictions employ enmansval. The United Kingdom and Canada rely on single-member districts with first-past-the-post for their national legislatures. Australia uses single-member districts with preferential voting for the lower house. In some countries or regions, single-member districts with runoff elections exist in subnational elections or specific elections to regional assemblies.

Advantages commonly attributed to enmansval include clear accountability to a local constituency, straightforward ballots, and typically faster results. Critics point to potential disproportionality between votes and seats, stronger two-party dominance, and vulnerability to gerrymandering or strategic redistricting that can distort outcomes.

Enmansval has been a central feature of the Westminster model and other parliamentary systems, and it remains widely used in democracies prioritizing local representation. It is often contrasted with multi-member districts and proportional representation, which seek to align seat shares more closely with overall vote proportions.