In a "more open" list system, the quota for election of an individual representative could be lowered from the above amount. It is then possible that more of a party's candidates achieve this quota than the total seats won by the party. It should therefore be made clear in advance whether list ranking or absolute votes take precedence in that case. The quota for individuals is usually specified either as a percentage of the party list quota, or as a percentage of the total votes received by the party. In one example, the quota is 1,000 votes and the open list threshold is specified as 25% of the quota, i.e. 250 votes. Therefore, a party that received 5,000 votes wins five seats, which are awarded to its list candidates as follows. Candidates No. 1, 7, and 4 have each achieved 25% of the quota (250 preference votes or more). They get the first three of the five seats the party has won. The other two seats will be taken by No. 2 and 3, the two highest remaining positions on the party list. This means that No. 5 is not elected even though being the fifth on the list and having more preference votes than No. 2. In practice, with such a strict threshold, only very few candidates succeed to precede on their lists as the required number of votes is huge. Where the threshold is lower (e.g. in Czech parliamentary elections, 5% of the total party vote is the required minimum), results defying the original list order are much more common. Parties usually allow candidates to ask for preference votes, but without campaigning negatively against other candidates on the list. In some countries individual political parties can choose if their list is open or closed.
Austria The members of the
National Council are elected by open list
proportional representation in nine multi-member constituencies based on the
states (with varying in size from 7 to 36 seats) and 39 districts. Voters are able to cast a single party vote and one preference votes each on the federal, state and electoral district level for their preferred candidates within that party. The thresholds for a candidate to move up the list are 7% of the candidate's party result on the federal level, 10% on the state level and 14% on the electoral district level. Candidates for the district level are listed on the ballot while voters need to
write-in their preferred candidate on state and federal level.
Croatia In
Croatia, the voter can give their vote to a single candidate on the list, but only candidates who have received at least 10% of the party's votes take precedence over the other candidates on the list.
Czech Republic In
Czech parliamentary elections, voters are given 4 preference votes. Only candidates who have received more than 5% of preferential votes at the regional level take precedence over the list. For elections to the European Parliament, the procedure is identical but each voter is only allowed 2 preference votes.
Indonesia In
Indonesia, any candidate who has obtained at least 30% of the quota is automatically elected.
Netherlands In the
Netherlands, the voter can give their vote to any candidate in a list (for example, in elections for the
House of Representatives); the vote for this candidate is called a "preference vote" (
voorkeurstem in Dutch). Candidates with at least 25% of the quota takes priority over the party's other candidates who stand higher on the party list but received fewer preference votes. Most people vote for the
top candidate, to indicate no special preference for any individual candidate, but support for the party in general; however, people sometimes want to express their support for a particular person. For example, some people vote for the first woman on the list. If a candidate gathers enough preference votes, then they get a seat in parliament, even if their position on the list would leave them without a seat. In the
2003 elections Hilbrand Nawijn, the former
minister of migration and integration, was elected into parliament for the
Pim Fortuyn List by preference votes even though he was the
last candidate on the list.
Slovakia In
Slovakia, each voter may, in addition to the party, select one to four candidates from the ordered party list. Candidates who are selected by more than 3% of the party's voters are elected (in order of total number of votes) first and only then is the party ordering used. For European elections, voters select two candidates and the candidates must have more than 10% of the total votes to override the party list. In the
European election in 2009 three of Slovakia's thirteen MEPs were elected solely by virtue of preference votes (having party-list positions too low to have won otherwise) and only one (
Katarína Neveďalová of SMER) was elected solely by virtue of her position on the party list (having fewer preference votes than a number of other candidates who themselves, nevertheless had preferences from fewer than 10 percent of their party's voters).
Sweden In
Sweden, a person needs to receive 5% of the party's votes for the personal vote to overrule the ordering on the party list. Voting without expressing a preference between individuals is possible, although the parties urge their voters to support the party's prime candidate, to protect them from being beaten by someone ranked lower by the party. The share of voters using the open list option at
2022 Swedish general election was 22.49%. ==Most open variant==