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{{Wikipedia|Electoral systems}}
:''parent: [[:Category:Electoral systems]]''


An '''electoral system''' (also referred to as an '''election method''' or '''voting system''') is a system for groups of people to select one or more options from many, taking into account the individual preferences of the group members, or more generally to find society's preference among all the candidates (1st place, 2nd place, etc.).  Voting is often seen as the defining feature of democracy, and is best known for its use in public elections &mdash; but it can also be used to award prizes, to select between different plans of action, or as a means for computer programs to evaluate which solution is best for a complex problem. 

See '''[[:Category:Electoral systems]]''' for the category associated with this article. This category on electowiki corresponds to "electoral systems" category on [[English Wikipedia]] (found here: "[[wikipedia:Category:Electoral systems]]").

== Criteria ==

=== Criteria in evaluating electoral systems ===

Various [[:Category:voting system criteria|criteria]] are used in evaluating voting systems.  However, it is impossible for one voting system to pass all criteria in common use. For example, [[Arrow's impossibility theorem]] demonstrates that many  desirable criteria are mutually inconsistent.

=== Auto-generated list ===

{{Special:CategoryTree/Voting_system_criteria}}

== See also ==
*[[:Category:Voting theory|Voting theory]]
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[[Category:Electoral systems]]