Runoff Election

A runoff election is a follow-up round of voting used when an initial election fails to produce a winner meeting a predefined threshold — most commonly an absolute majority (more than 50%) of votes cast. The mechanism is designed to ensure that the eventual winner has broad support rather than only a plurality, which in fragmented fields can mean victory with a small share of the vote.

The most widespread form is the two-round system (TRS), used for presidential elections in France, Brazil, Argentina, Poland, Turkey, Ghana, and many other states. Under the classic French model, if no candidate wins an outright majority in the first round, the top two advance to a second round held two weeks later. Argentina applies a modified rule (ballotage): a candidate can win outright with 45% of the vote, or with 40% plus a 10-point lead over the runner-up.

Variants exist. In the United States, Georgia and Louisiana use runoffs for federal and state offices; the January 2021 Georgia Senate runoffs flipped control of the U.S. Senate to the Democrats. Instant-runoff voting (IRV), used in Australian House elections and in Maine and Alaska for federal races, simulates successive runoffs in a single ballot by having voters rank candidates.

Arguments in favor emphasize majoritarian legitimacy and the ability of voters to coalesce against an extreme candidate — as in France 2002 and 2017, when Jacques Chirac and then Emmanuel Macron defeated Jean-Marie and Marine Le Pen respectively by wide margins in the second round. Critics point to lower second-round turnout, additional administrative cost, and the risk that strategic first-round voting distorts preferences.

Runoffs are distinct from re-run elections (ordered after annulment for fraud or irregularity, as Kenya's Supreme Court directed in 2017) and from plurality systems like first-past-the-post, where the leading candidate wins regardless of share.