from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_2004#May_10:_Philippines

to get the 2% min (at the time, which is not the case anymore), you need 240K votes.

isn’t it theoretically possible, for more populous regions to have 240K, and therefore most of the votes can come from that one place?

my own issue is that i don’t think primer’s problem is relevant. there is NO example of people who are related in district and party list congressmen, where the both got their votes from a specific locality.

If you knew that the PL was national, then how could you have asked this ridiculous question?

For example, in Legislative District X, Male Politician M runs as regular congressman. Female Politician N runs as party-list representative. When the votes were counted, 200,000 were counted to Male Pol M and not surprisingly, about the same number of votes, say 205,000 were counted to Female Pol N.

It turns out that Male Pol M and Female Pol N are actually husband and wife. In other words, the votes that went to the husband also went to the wife. They both won – a seat each in the House of Representatives.

Truth is, the lady is happy enough to share the room where she holds office to the husband, until a new room of his own would have been provided by the House of Representatives.

In this given illustration, what is made clear is the fact that there is always an easy mode nay a sort of a ‘backdoor entrance’ where a husband and a wife, a brother and a brother, a sister and a sister, or a father and a son, or a mother and a daughter can become elected by riding on the same ‘political carpet’.

Thus, legally enough, something is being circumvented. In short, any politician of genius can always go around a law so no law is actually being violated. It must be important to know how each of the party list who have participated in the last 2007 elections could have earned their votes: were it at large or were it district-generated?

Precisely because PL orgs are voted on nationally, the results that come from the district of the husband (in your example) are simply not enough to get his PL wife into congress. You need at least 2% of the vote to get in with a guaranteed first seat, and with only the district votes to count, PL wife won't even get one seat – even in the subsequent round of seat allocations.

In other words, a PL cannot simply rely on votes from one place, no matter if it's Nominee is related to that place's Congressman.

So this complaint you're venting – it's irrelevant.

And speaking of not being quick to judge, take your own advice.

It turns out that Male Pol M and Female Pol N are actually husband and wife. In other words, the votes that went to the husband also went to the wife. They both won – a seat each in the House of Representatives.

That's a big assumption – to say that voters will vote for the Congressman's wife's PL. You must not know that people vote for only ONE party-list organization. Just ONE out of almost a hundred. Now tell me it's safe to assume that people will automatically vote for the Congressman's wife's PL. With so many causes being represented by the PL, did it ever cross your mind that the PL vote in the district will be split more ways than that?

Your right, my thesis is not on political families per se but it brings it to light, nonetheless.

your idea is that related people run and win in BOTH district congressmen (who are always elected locally) AND party list congressmen (who are always elected nationally).

thats a strange idea, BUT if true, would be quite interesting!

do you have an example? just one? thanks.

i'm not sure how important this is, whether this is big enough to overturn the purpose of the party list — i.e. to increase participation from marginalized groups.

It is hoped that uploading or linking material from another source has no otherwise negative implication?

For example, in Legislative District X, Male Politician M runs as regular congressman. Female Politician N runs as party-list representative.

Right. Why write about something you do not know? LOL!