Wikidata:WikiProject every politician/P39 model

The core property for holding political office is position held (P39) (member of (P463) should not be used for this).

Three different "levels" of position held (P39) data tend to be used, depending on the quality of data sources, and the richness of information required:

Level 1

Uses a single standard membership property, e.g. Member of the European Parliament (Q27169), and no qualifiers. This is very common when bulk-importing data on politicians, e.g. from Wikipedia Categories, and is very useful base information.

position held (P39)	Member of the European Parliament (Q27169) edit 0 references add reference
		add value

Level 2

The position held (P39) statement is qualified with start time (P580) and end time (P582). This is a substantial improvement on Level 1, as it lets us know when someone held office, not simply that they did hold office.

position held (P39)	Member of the European Parliament (Q27169) edit start time 20 July 2004 end time 21 October 2013 0 references add reference
		add value

Level 3

Separate position held (P39) statements for each mandate:

position held (P39)	Member of the European Parliament (Q27169) edit parliamentary term Sixth European Parliament (Q4642661) start time 20 July 2004 end time 13 July 2009 elected in 2004 European Parliament election (Q1331918) 0 references add reference Member of the European Parliament (Q27169) edit parliamentary term Seventh European Parliament (Q4644021) start time 14 July 2009 end time 21 October 2013 elected in 2009 European Parliament election (Q210152) 0 references add reference
		add value

Although slightly more complicated to enter, this form allows for much richer data that is usually easier to query.

Other highly recommended qualifiers on position held (P39) statements include:

• parliamentary group (P4100)
• electoral district (P768)
• end cause (P1534) is useful where applicable and known.
  • Common values include: <dissolution of parliament (Q741182)>, <leaving party (Q30580660)>, <exclusion from a political party (Q1787171)>, <death in office (Q5247364)> (see all end cause qualifiers currently in use)

Notes:

• elected in (P2715) should be set to novalue if the person was not elected (e.g. if they were co-opted or otherwise appointed)
• electoral district (P768) should be set to novalue where no electoral unit (Q192611) applies
• parliamentary term (P2937) should be set to novalue if the legislature isn't legislative term (Q15238777)-based
• parliamentary group (P4100) should be set to independent politician (Q327591) if not a member of any group
• end time (P582) should be omitted if the person is still in office, not set to novalue