Two or more parties or candidate groups may decide to merge their lists to increase their chances of gaining seats in the National Council.
For example: party A and party B join their lists. When allotting mandates between the different lists, the votes obtained by lists A and B are counted together. The combined lists will thus have more votes and consequently also more chances of obtaining mandates in the National Council.
Only later are the seats obtained by the combined lists divided between each of the two lists. The seats are distributed in proportion to the votes obtained.
Within a combination, two or more lists may also decide to group themselves into a sub-combination. The aim is to increase the chances of obtaining a seat over other groups in the same combination.
Sub-combinations are only possible if the lists have the same basic name and are distinguished only by an addition that establishes a distinction of gender, age, wing of a political group or region. For example:
Grouping within list ‹A›: list ‹A women›, list ‹A youth›, list ‹B› and list ‹B youth› = list combination
Within this combined list, a sub-combination is possible. But in this case list ‹A› can only group with list ‹A youth› and/or list ‹A women› and cannot group with list ‹B› or list ‹B youth›.