The terms of this glossary can be found in the Voter Turnout database and in the IDEA publications Voter Turnout in Western Europe since 1945 (2004) and Voter Turnout since 1945 (2002).
CL (Civil Liberties)
See Freedom House, PR, CL and Overall Status.
Country
The countries in the Voter Turnout database are included on the basis of a number of specific criteria. Inclusion of a country in the Voter Turnout database does not signify that the electoral process is free and fair nor does it imply IDEA’s support for the democratic process in the country. For more information about the selection of countries, please see the Methodology section.
Electoral System
For each country in the table we have listed the electoral system currently used, i.e. PR, Majority or Mixed. This information is taken from The International IDEA Handbook of Electoral System Design (2005) published by International IDEA. Please refer to the chapter on Voter Turnout Rates in a Comparative Perspective or click here for a brief explanation of each electoral system.
EU parliamentary elections
The Voter Turnout database contains information about elections to the parliament of the European Union carried out in the EU Member States since 1979. Elections to the European Parliament are carried out within each country to select members of the European parliament (MEPs) from each Member State. The organisation of the elections differs somewhat from country to country, but all elections must be carried out using a proportional electoral system.
Freedom House, PR, CL and Overall Status
- PR = Political Right
- CL = Civil Liberties
The two measurements of Political Rights and Civil Liberties have been taken from Freedom House which uses these two categories as indicators of the levels of freedom in a country’s political system. A rating of 1 indicates the highest degree of freedom and 7 the least amount of freedom. Each pair of political rights and civil liberties ratings is averaged to determine an overall status. Those whose ratings average 1.0 to 2.5 are considered Free, 3.0 to 5.0 Partly Free, and 5.5 to 7.0 Not Free. Data was collected from the Freedom House website, where more information about the survey and its methodology is available.
It should be noted that quantitative measurements can only provide a generic overview of the state of democracy in a country. For deeper analysis based on the views of citizens of the country please visit IDEA’s State of Democracy website.
Invalid
See Valid/Invalid Votes.
Parliamentary Elections
The parliamentary elections displayed in the Voter Turnout database are elections to the national legislative body of a country or territory. In case the legislative body has two chambers, only the second (lower) chamber is included. If elections are carried out in two rounds (using the Two-Round System TRS), only the second election round is included.
Population
The total population as described under Voting Age Population.
PR (Political Rights)
See Freedom House, PR, CL and Overall Status.
Presidential Elections
The presidential elections displayed in the Voter Turnout database are elections to the national presidency of a country or territory. If elections are carried out in two rounds (using the Two-Round System TRS), only the second election round is included.
Region
The countries of the Voter Turnout database are subordinated into the following regions:
- Africa
- Asia
- CIS, Central and Eastern Europe
- Caribbean
- Central America
- Middle East
- North America
- Oceania & Pacific Islands
- South America
- Western Europe
Registration
The number of registered voters. The figure represents the number of names on the voters' register at the time that the registration process closes (cut-off date), as reported by the electoral management body. For more information about Voter Registration please see the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network: Voter Registration.
Total Votes
The total number of votes cast in the relevant election. Total vote includes valid and invalid votes, as well as blank votes in cases where these are separated from invalid votes.
Type of election
The IDEA Voter Turnout database contains information about three types of elections: (national) parliamentary elections, (national) presidential elections and elections to the European Parliament held in all countries that are members of the European Union. For more information about the types of elections, see parliamentary elections, presidential elections or EU parliamentary elections.
Valid/Invalid votes
A vote needs to fulfil a number of criteria to be considered as valid. Examples of such votes include ballots where the voter has marked more choices than he/she is allowed to according to the electoral system. For more information, please see the ACE Electoral Knowledge Network: Criteria to Determine when Votes should Count as Valid.
Voter Turnout
The total number of votes cast (valid or invalid) divided by the number of names on the voters' register, expressed as a percentage.
Vote/VAP
The total number of votes cast (valid or invalid) divided by the Voting Age Population figure, expressed as a percentage.
Voting Age Population
The voting age population (VAP) includes all citizens above the legal voting age. VAP figures can complement voter registration figures for two reasons. First, registration figures can be inaccurate or unavailable, and sometimes voter registers are not used (as in South Africa in 1994). Second, the voting age population figures can provide a clearer picture of participation as they signal a problem with the voters' register or registration system.
The voting age population is based on a country's population over the age of 18. It is not intended to be an exact measure of the number of citizens entitled to vote as it does not take into account legal or systemic barriers to the exercise of the franchise or account for non-eligible members of the population, such as resident non-citizens (the voting eligible population – VEP – would capture these discrepancies but it is very hard to achieve the data required to measure VEP). It is intended as indicative only.
For elections held between 1945 and 2001, most estimates of the VAP data are based on the latest census data report in the Demographic Yearbook 1998. This data is produced by the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Estimates for Barbados, the Central African Republic and Niger are based on census data reported in the Demographic Yearbook 1996. Estimates for Albania, Djibouti, Ghana, Guinea, Guyana, Côte d'Ivoire, Samoa, Tanzania, and Togo are based on the medium variant population estimate in World Population Prospects: the 1998 Revision Volume II. The following countries were not included in the statistics produced by the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs: Anguilla, Fiji, Grenada, Nauru and Palau. For these countries the CIA World Factbook has been used. In all cases the population data selected is either that for the election year or the latest reported before the election year. In the latter case the growth rates presented in table A11 of World Population Prospects: the 1998 Revision Volume 1 were applied to form an estimated population for the election year.
For elections held 2002 and onwards the population figures are based on data from the International Database of the U.S. Census Bureau.
For all election years, the data was then adjusted to remove population under the age of 18. The result forms our estimated voting age population. Again, the VAP figures are estimates and should be treated as such.
Year
The year in which the elections are held. If elections are carried out in two rounds (using the Two-Round System TRS), only the year when the second round was held is stated.
