Thus cations and anions attract one another. Conversely, cations repel one another as do anions.
Electrostatic attraction is indiscriminate.
That is a cation can attract more than one anion and visa versa. However, this array has a very specific composition completely dictated by the charges on the cations and anions. Sodium has a positive 1 charge and chloride has a negative 1 charge. 1 Cl 1 or NaCl. The ionic compounds above were made up of monatomic ions.