Party-list representation in the House of Representatives of the Philippines

Party-list representation in the House of Representatives of the Philippines refers to a system in which 20% of the House of Representatives is elected. While the House is predominantly elected by a plurality voting system, known as a first-past-the-post system, party-list representatives are elected by a type of party-list proportional representation. The 1987 Constitution of the Philippines created the party-list system. Purportedly under-represented community sectors or groups, including labor, peasant, urban poor, indigenous cultural, women, youth, and other such sectors as may be defined by law (except the religious sector), may participate in the party-list election. [A religious group, Buhay Hayaan Yumabong, claiming to represent pro-life proponents in the country, has however been allowed by the Philippines' Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to participate in the elections.]

The determination of what parties are allowed to participate—who their nominees should be, how the winners should be determined, and the allocation of seats for the winning parties—has been controversial ever since the party-list election was first contested in 1998 and has resulted in several landmark COMELEC and Supreme Court cases.

Party-list representatives are indirectly elected via a party-list election wherein the voter votes for the party and not for the party's nominees (closed list); the votes are then arranged in descending order, with the parties that won at least 2% of the national vote given one seat, with additional seats determined by a formula dependent on the number of votes garnered by the party. No party wins more than three seats. If the number of sectoral representatives does not reach 20% of the total number of representatives in the House, parties that haven't won seats but garnered enough votes to place them among the top sectoral parties are given a seat each until the 57 seats are filled. A voter therefore has two parallel votes in House of Representatives elections—for district representative and for the under-represented sectoral-party list representative/s. Neither vote affects the other.

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