Safe seat

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This article is missing information about France, Germany and Italy. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page. (July 2024)

A safe seat is an electoral district which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combination of both. With such seats, there is very little chance of a seat changing hands because of the political leanings of the electorate in the constituency concerned or the popularity of the incumbent member. This contrasts with a marginal seat in which a defeat for the seat holder is considered possible. In systems where candidates must first win the party's primary election, the phrase "tantamount to election" is often used to describe winning the dominant party's nomination for a safe seat.