Winner-take-all system

<p>A winner-take-all (or winner-takes-all) <a href="/facts/Electoral_system/e6zvx3Bo">electoral system</a> is one where a <a href="/facts/Voting_bloc/lvIzsw9K">voting bloc</a> can win all seats in a <a href="/facts/Legislature/ycUCe91S">legislature</a> or <a href="/facts/Electoral_district/BscesP5j">electoral district</a>, denying representation to any political minorities. Such systems are used in many major democracies. Such systems are sometimes called "majoritarian representation", though this term is a <a href="/facts/Misnomer/P4TnsX3H">misnomer</a>, as most such systems do not always elect <a href="/facts/Majority_preferred_candidate/p1pKVX0k">majority preferred candidates</a> and do not always produce winners who received majority of votes cast in the district, and they allow parties to take a majority of seats in the chamber with just a minority of the vote.
</p><p>Any election with only a single seat is a winner-take-all system (as it is impossible for the winner to take less than one seat). As a result, legislatures elected by <a href="/facts/Single-member_district/CBIvRokq">single-member districts</a> are often described as using "winner-take-all". However, winner-take-all systems do not necessarily mean the majority of voters are represented properly. A minority of voters across the country may take all the seats; a minority of votes cast in a district may elect all the winners in a district. Conversely, a party with just a sliver of votes in a country-wide sense may have local dominance and take a seat in a particular <a href="/facts/Constituency/BscesP5j">constituency</a>, or such an extreme candidate can win even with just a plurality in the district, leaving the majority in the district unrepresented.
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Winner-take-all system open-in-new

Winner-take-all system