Editing By-election (section)

== In mixed systems ==

[[Mixed-member proportional representation]], [[Additional-member system|additional member]], and [[parallel voting]] systems, in which some members are chosen by [[party list]]s and some from single-member constituencies, usually hold by-elections to fill a vacancy in a constituency seat; for example, the [[Assassination of Shinzo Abe|assassination of]] [[Shinzo Abe]] resulted in a by-election in [[Yamaguchi 4th district|Yamaguchi's 4th district]], which Abe represented in the [[House of Representatives of Japan]] (elected under parallel voting).<ref>{{Cite news |date=21 July 2022 |title=Abe's Widow, Akie, Not to Run in Lower House By-Election |work=nippon.com |url=https://www.nippon.com/en/news/yjj2022072101152/ |access-date=30 December 2022}}</ref> If a vacancy arises in a party list seat, it would be filled in the manner usual for party-list proportional systems; for example, on the resignation of [[Darren Hughes]] from the [[Parliament of New Zealand]] in March 2011, [[Louisa Wall]] filled the seat after all the five candidates above her on the [[New Zealand Labour Party]]'s list declined it.<ref>{{Cite news |date=6 April 2011 |title=Louisa Wall back in Parliament |work=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10717554 |access-date=9 December 2015}}</ref>

Exceptions to this rule exist: In the German [[Bundestag]], which uses mixed-member proportional representation, by-elections were originally held upon the vacancy of any constituency seat. This was changed in January 1953, since which time vacancies in constituency seats have been filled by the next candidate on the state list of the party which won the seat, in the same manner as vacancies among list seats. Confusingly, this change occurred alongside a switch from [[mixed single vote]], where a single set of votes was used for both constituency and list seats, to a conventional two-vote mixed member proportional system – a change which granted constituency members an electoral mandate distinct from the party's list seats. By-elections are now only held if a vacancy arises in a constituency seat and there is no associated party list with which to fill it – typically, if the former member was elected as an [[Independent politician|independent]]. This is referred to as a substitute election (''Ersatzwahl''). Since no independents have been elected to the Bundestag since the first legislative period, no such substitute election has ever taken place.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wahlrecht.de/lexikon/nachwahl.html|title=Nachwahl|publisher=Wahlrecht.de|access-date=21 July 2020}}</ref>