Template:Election box/doc

This is a documentation subpage for Template:Election box.
It contains usage information, categories and other content that is not part of the original template page.

Use

These Election box templates are for displaying a list of candidates and results for any election. They produce tables like this:

General Election 2005: Strangford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Blair	9,999	50.0	+10.0
	Conservative	Michael Howard	9,999	50.0	+10.0
Majority			9,999	50.0	+10.0
Turnout			9,999	50.0	+10.0

How to use

Basic

There are three basic templates:

The begin and end templates start and end a table with appropriate columns and formatting. The candidate template is used once for each candidate and contributes a row to the table.

When using this template please use the election box end template rather than simply inserting |} at the end of the election box. If you do place the |} it will be detected as an error by syntax-checking bots and will then be placed in the syntax cleanup project queue and will need to be fixed by someone. Having fixed a few hundred already, it is becoming somewhat repetitive.

For example:

 {{Election box begin |title=[[United Kingdom general election, 2005|General Election 2005]]: Strangford}}
 {{Election box candidate
   |party      = Labour
   |candidate  = Tony Blair
   |votes      = 9,999
   |percentage = 50.0
   |change     = +10.0
 }}
 {{Election box candidate
   |party      = Conservative
   |candidate  = Michael Howard
   |votes      = 9,999
   |percentage = 50.0
   |change     = +10.0
 }}
 {{Election box end}}

Will create this:

General Election 2005: Strangford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Blair	9,999	50.0	+10.0
	Conservative	Michael Howard	9,999	50.0	+10.0

Party links

See Template:Election box candidate with party link for usage and set-up.

Majority and turnout

Two further templates:

{{Election box majority}}
{{Election box turnout}}

can be added to record the majority and turnout figures for an election. (In this context, "majority" refers to the winning margin between the first and second placed candidates.)

For example:

 ...
 {{Election box majority
   |votes      = 9,999
   |percentage = 50.0
   |change     = +10.0
 }}
 {{Election box turnout
   |votes      = 9,999
   |percentage = 50.0
   |change     = +10.0
 }}
 {{Election box end}}

Will create this:

General Election 2005: Strangford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Blair	9,999	50.0	+10.0
	Conservative	Michael Howard	9,999	50.0	+10.0
Majority			9,999	50.0	+10.0
Turnout			9,999	50.0	+10.0

Election outcome

Finally there are two templates:

that can be used to summarize the outcome of an election, in terms of whether the incumbent holds the seat or whether it is lost to another party.

For example:

 ...
 {{Election box hold with party link
   |winner     = Labour Party (UK)
   |swing      = +10.0
 }}

 or...

 {{Election box gain with party link
   |winner     = Conservative Party (UK)
   |loser      = Labour Party (UK)
   |swing      = +10.0
 }}
 {{Election box end}}

Will create this:

General Election 2005: Strangford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Blair	9,999	50.0	+10.0
	Conservative	Michael Howard	9,999	50.0	+10.0
Majority			9,999	50.0	+10.0
Turnout			9,999	50.0	+10.0
	Labour hold		Swing	+10.0

or this...

General Election 2005: Strangford
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tony Blair	9,999	50.0	+10.0
	Conservative	Michael Howard	9,999	50.0	+10.0
Majority			9,999	50.0	+10.0
Turnout			9,999	50.0	+10.0
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+10.0

Notes:

The swing parameter represents Peter Snow's Swingometer measure, i.e. the percentage change (or swing) in the vote since the last election.
When preparing the tables in advance of an election, it may be convenient to include these two templates but commented out (using  ) until the outcome is known.
Potentially there is a need for versions of these templates that do not have the party link mechanism. However, it can be argued that any party that has a successful candidate deserves an article about them. The one obvious exception to this is, of course, independent candidates, who won't actually have a party. If / when there's a need, just create a non party link version of these templates.

Blanks by country

Extensions

Template:Election FPTP begin As 1, but includes an additional column for expenditures. Example
Template:Election box begin for list As 1, but better suited to list-based multi-member constituencies. Example
Template:Election box candidate for alliance As 3, with an additional "side" party. Example

Related pages

Template:Compact election box A more compact box for first-past-the-post elections