Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Elections and Referendums

Hiya, I just wanted to ask for the opinion on editors at WPE&R on a question – should election infoboxes that take place in non-sovereign (ie, supernational or subnational) states have that state's flag in the infobox? This comes from 2028 London mayoral election where there's a small dispute between myself (I think that the Greater London Authority flag should be used on the page) and others (who do not).

This comes from a part where policy seemingly conflicts with actual editing practises. MOS:SOVEREIGNFLAG seems to suggest that infoboxes should not display any flags from non-sovereign states unless directly related to the article (ie, the flag of Chicago being displayed in the Chicago article and the Flag of Chicago article. I've never interpreted SOVEREIGNFLAG as applying to election articles, rather, I've interpreted it as applying to other infoboxes where confusion could be borne, such as where a man born in Chicago could technically have the Chicago, Illinois or US flags displayed in his birthplace section. Indeed, the strictest interpretation of SOVEREIGNFLAG would seem to demand that all non-sovereign state flags should be removed from election articles, including all state and local elections such as 2025 Tokyo prefectural election, 2025 Virginia House of Delegates election, 2022 California State Assembly election, etc.

So really this is two questions: is SOVEREIGNFLAG correct here? If so, is it being correctly applied? DimensionalFusion (talk) 18:03, 15 February 2026 (UTC)

I'd say the election being in a certain jurisdiction means the flag is directly related to the article enough. Glide08 (talk) 18:15, 15 February 2026 (UTC)

Local elections should have the flag of the local government... by-elections should be different though. latest UK ones don't have flags, US special elections have the flag of the state. Howard the Duck (talk) 18:28, 15 February 2026 (UTC)

With that being said, this has been discussed a few times before, and I would agree that flags are used as decorations. Howard the Duck (talk) 19:57, 15 February 2026 (UTC)

I'll repeat the point I made at the original discussion, which is that I think MOS:FLAGRELEVANCE is more applicable than MOS:SOVEREIGNFLAG for election articles. The guideline states that Subnational flags (regions, cities, etc.) should generally be used only when directly relevant to the article. I think that elections for mayors or assemblies of those subdivisions are directly relevant to that subdivision.

I'll also add for context that the Coat of arms of Greater London was only re-adopted by the Greater London Authority last year, which is why past articles like 2024 London mayoral election do not (and probably should not) have the flag. Pretzel Quetzal (talk) 20:05, 15 February 2026 (UTC)

I've left a message at Template talk:Election box candidate AU party#Liberal Party issue but realised that it is likely not going to be seen. The issue is listed there, I'm not sure whether the issue is with that specific template or another one which has to do with the colour rendering, but it's fairly important that the issue is resolved given upcoming elections in Farrer and South Australia coming up soon which will need to use the template; as well as existing articles which use the template. Youshouldchooseausernamethat (Youshouldtalk) 11:06, 21 February 2026 (UTC)

Posting this here because WT:POLITICS is basically dead. Lame-duck session is titled this way (i.e. universal usage), but 162 etc. insists is should only be restricted to usages about the United States Congress, and suggested to do an WP:RM to rename the current article to Lame-duck sessions in the United States Congress.

What led to this was I previously added Philippines usage, but 162 etc. reverted it, and I later learned this was also used in US state legislatures. I won't list an WP:RM because I insist the article title implies universal usage, hence it should not be moved. We'd need a third opinion on this. Howard the Duck (talk) 15:00, 1 March 2026 (UTC)

There is a discussion at Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/Ireland-related articles about how to style members of the Teachta Dála. Jon698 (talk) 01:35, 5 March 2026 (UTC)

There is a requested move discussion at Talk:2026 Iranian Supreme Leader election#Requested move 9 March 2026 that may be of interest to members of this WikiProject. Qwerty123M (talk) 22:50, 9 March 2026 (UTC)

There is a requested move discussion at Talk:2026 National Party of Australia leadership spill motion#Requested move 11 March 2026 that may be of interest to members of this WikiProject. Qwerty123M (talk) 08:24, 11 March 2026 (UTC)

Hey y'all,

I don't feel like we have any consistent standards for how percentages should be displayed in the election box templates. They're all over the place. Sometimes with the % sign, without the % sign, with the tenths place and % sign (see here), with the hundredths place and % sign (see here), with the tenths place and no % sign (see here), with the hundredths place and no % sign (see here), without any decimals and just % sign (haven't found any yet but they prob exist), without any decimals or % signs (see here), and sometimes with a variety of formats in the same election box sequence (see here). I've seen a case where the percentages were displayed to the thousandths place without a % sign but then in the total votes line it was at the hundredths place with a % sign (see here). I've noticed this issue seems to greatly (disproportionately?) impact American election articles.

Should we create a MOS and standardize the way these percentages are displayed in the election box templates? If we do, my personal preference would be no % sign (since they're redundant to the column header) and hundredths place, unless exceptionally close. I've also been suggested using Template:Election results and/or Template:Election results table instead.

Hoping to get some discussion around this. Average Pennsylvanian (talk) 08:46, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

Using Template:Election results universally should avoid questions such as this. Howard the Duck (talk) 10:46, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

+1 to this. This is the easiest way to standardise it, and has many other advantages (like autocalculation of the percentages, not having a forced fixed width that often results in unnecessary line breaks etc). Number 57 20:14, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

I see you only used US examples, but I assume you'd like standardization across all elections across the world? I can tell you for Canadian elections, things are generally standardized at this point. No percentage sign, and to the second decimal point.-- Earl Andrew - talk 13:14, 16 March 2026 (UTC)

Yeah, I think it would be good to standardize all elections worldwide. I didn't include non-American elections for examples since it generally seems that non-American elections are more standardized to the second decimal point with no percentage sign. American election articles just seem more noticeable with this issue. Average Pennsylvanian (talk) 07:07, 18 March 2026 (UTC)

I've personally always done it without the percentage sign and to two decimal places. (nearly entirely American elections). I do realize that Template:Election box candidate with party link has documentation with only one decimal place. Yoblyblob (Talk) :) 17:16, 16 March 2026 (UTC)