The Origins of the Party-List Electoral System in the 1986 Constitutional Commission

Abstract

The article studies the origins of the party-list electoral system in the 1987 Philippine Constitution through a review of the proceedings of the 1986 Constitutional Commission and interviews with the 1986 constitutional commissioners. It seeks to help clarify the current debate on the purpose and meaning of the party-list electoral system that elects 20% of members of the House of Representatives by reviewing the transcripts of the 1986 Constitutional Commission and by interviewing the principal authors of the party-list provisions in the 1987 Philippine Constitution. Through the presentation of the original positions of the constitutional commissioners, the study seeks to better recount, recover, and review the founding vision of the framers of the 1987 Constitution that is buried in the accretion of the enabling law for the party list, Supreme Court decisions, Commission on Elections (Comelec) resolutions, petitions of political party and sectoral groups, and commentaries that have competed to interpret the constitutional provisions on the party list in the past 28 years of existence of the 1987 Constitution.

Keywords: Party-list electoral system, 1986 Constitutional Commission, 1987 Philippine Constitution, proportional representation, House of Representatives In