Electoral symbol

An electoral symbol is a standardised symbol allocated to a political party. Symbols are used by parties in their campaigning, and printed on ballot papers where a voter must make a mark to vote for the associated party. Their purpose is to facilitate voting by illiterate people, who cannot read parties' names on ballot papers. Examples include an elephant's head and three lotus flowers (Cambodian Democratic Party) and a lotus (Indian Bhartiya Janata Party). In Brazil parties are allocated two-digit numbers, easily recognised by the illiterate, instead.