The following are the steps to determine the winners under the party-list system in the Philippines. These steps have been updated based on the 1987 Constitution and the recent Supreme Court jurisprudence.
Step 1: The parties, organizations, and coalitions shall be ranked from the highest to the lowest based on the number of votes they garnered during the elections.
Step 2: The parties, organizations, and coalitions receiving at least two percent (2%) of the total votes cast for the party-list system shall be entitled to one seat each. This is called the Guaranteed Seat.
- Example: AKBAYAN garnered 2,750,864 votes, representing 6.71% of the total votes cast for the party-list system as of 12:00 AM of May 14, 2025. Having surpassed the 2% threshold, it is entitled to one guaranteed seat in Congress, to be occupied by its first nominee.
Step 3: Those garnering more than two percent (2%) of the votes shall be entitled to Additional Seats in proportion to their total number of votes.
- To determine the additional seats, compute first for the maximum seats reserved under the party-lists, that is, Total No. of Legislative Districts / 0.80 x 0.20 = Maximum Seats
- Example: 254 legislative districts for the May 12, 2025 elections / 0.80 x 0.20 = 63 maximum seats reserved under the party-list system
- After determining the maximum seats, compute for the additional seats, that is, Votes Garnered over Total Votes for Party List, in % x Remaining Seats (maximum seats – guaranteed seats) = Additional Seats
- Example: AKBAYAN garnered 2,750,864 votes or 6.71% of the Total Votes for Party List. Therefore, the computation should be 6.71% x (63 maximum seats - 6 guaranteed seats for party-lists who surpassed the 2% threshold as of 12:00 AM of May 14, 2025) = 3.8 additional seats
Step 4: Add the Guaranteed Seats and the whole integer of the Additional Seats.
- Only the whole integer of the above product of the votes garnered over total votes for party list, in % and of the remaining seats corresponds to a party’s share in the remaining available seats
- Example: AKBAYAN's computed 3.8 additional seats entitle it to 3 more congressional representatives, in addition to its 1 guaranteed seat. This brings its total to 4 seats in the House of Representatives for the 20th Congress.
- Assign one party-list seat to each of the parties next in rank until all available seats are completely distributed
Step 5: We apply the Three-Seat Cap to determine the number of seats each qualified party-list candidate is entitled.
- Example: Although AKBAYAN is projected to earn a total of 4 seats based on the number of votes it received, it can only occupy a maximum of 3 seats in the House of Representatives due to the three-seat cap rule applied to all party-list groups.
For more details, refer to the formula and computations found here: Allocation of Seats for Party-List Representatives or you may refer to the spreadsheet format for application of the above rules.