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Sample data

Datasets you can paste straight into Power BI to try the Parliament Chart in both data shapes, without touching your own model.

Each one comes with a DAX version you can paste into Modeling → New table in Power BI Desktop, which is the fastest way to get a working chart on screen.

Figures are illustrative

The chamber compositions below are drawn from published election results and are here to demonstrate the visual, not to serve as a reference. Check the current composition before using any of them in a real report.

1. A small chamber — party totals​

The simplest complete setup: 100 seats, four parties, with an order and colours.

PartySeatsSort OrderColour
Green List181#5FB158
Progressive Alliance412#D8382E
Independents83#9C9C9C
Civic Union334#2B5FA8
Chamber =
DATATABLE (
    "Party", STRING,
    "Seats", INTEGER,
    "Sort Order", INTEGER,
    "Colour", STRING,
    {
        { "Green List", 18, 1, "#5FB158" },
        { "Progressive Alliance", 41, 2, "#D8382E" },
        { "Independents", 8, 3, "#9C9C9C" },
        { "Civic Union", 33, 4, "#2B5FA8" }
    }
)

Bind: Party → Party · Seats → Seat Count · Sort Order → Sort Order · Colour → Custom Color. Settings: Arc 180, Legend Bottom center with Seat counts on.

The 100-seat sample chamber with Green List 18, Progressive Alliance 41, Independents 8 and Civic Union 33

2. A large chamber — UK House of Commons​

650 seats across 15 groups. A good stress test for legend layout, thin wedges and left-to-right ordering.

PartySeatsSort OrderColour
Sinn Féin71#326760
SDLP22#2AA82C
Green43#6AB023
Plaid Cymru44#005B54
SNP95#FDF38E
Labour4116#E4003B
Liberal Democrats727#FAA61A
Alliance18#F6CB2F
Independent69#909090
Speaker110#BBBBBB
UUP111#48A5EE
DUP512#D46A4C
TUV113#0C3A6A
Conservative12114#0087DC
Reform UK515#12B6CF
Commons =
DATATABLE (
    "Party", STRING,
    "Seats", INTEGER,
    "Sort Order", INTEGER,
    "Colour", STRING,
    {
        { "Sinn Féin", 7, 1, "#326760" },
        { "SDLP", 2, 2, "#2AA82C" },
        { "Green", 4, 3, "#6AB023" },
        { "Plaid Cymru", 4, 4, "#005B54" },
        { "SNP", 9, 5, "#FDF38E" },
        { "Labour", 411, 6, "#E4003B" },
        { "Liberal Democrats", 72, 7, "#FAA61A" },
        { "Alliance", 1, 8, "#F6CB2F" },
        { "Independent", 6, 9, "#909090" },
        { "Speaker", 1, 10, "#BBBBBB" },
        { "UUP", 1, 11, "#48A5EE" },
        { "DUP", 5, 12, "#D46A4C" },
        { "TUV", 1, 13, "#0C3A6A" },
        { "Conservative", 121, 14, "#0087DC" },
        { "Reform UK", 5, 15, "#12B6CF" }
    }
)

Settings: Arc 180, Legend Right (15 entries don't fit in a single row), Seat counts on, Show Total Seats on.

The 650-seat House of Commons sample with all 15 groups and their seat counts

tip

A majority is 326 of 650. The visual doesn't draw a majority line — put the threshold in a card visual beside the chart, or see No majority line.

3. A wide hemicycle — European Parliament​

720 seats across nine political groups. Sort Order matters more here than anywhere: the groups run left to right along a recognised political axis.

GroupSeatsSort OrderColour
The Left461#B71C1C
S&D1362#F0001C
Greens/EFA533#57B45F
Renew774#FFDD00
EPP1885#3399FF
ECR786#0054A5
PfE847#2B3A67
ESN258#063E7B
Non-attached339#B0B0B0
EuroParliament =
DATATABLE (
    "Group", STRING,
    "Seats", INTEGER,
    "Sort Order", INTEGER,
    "Colour", STRING,
    {
        { "The Left", 46, 1, "#B71C1C" },
        { "S&D", 136, 2, "#F0001C" },
        { "Greens/EFA", 53, 3, "#57B45F" },
        { "Renew", 77, 4, "#FFDD00" },
        { "EPP", 188, 5, "#3399FF" },
        { "ECR", 78, 6, "#0054A5" },
        { "PfE", 84, 7, "#2B3A67" },
        { "ESN", 25, 8, "#063E7B" },
        { "Non-attached", 33, 9, "#B0B0B0" }
    }
)

Settings: Arc 200 for a wider, flatter hemicycle, Legend Right center to keep all nine names visible, Seat counts on.

The 720-seat European Parliament sample at 200 degrees, with nine groups in the documented order

4. One row per seat — a committee​

Twelve seats, each carrying its own member. Use this to see per-seat tooltips working.

Seat IDMemberPartyConstituencyFirst elected
S-001A. WhitcombeProgressive AllianceNorthgate2019
S-002R. DelgadoProgressive AllianceAshvale East2024
S-003P. FerreiraProgressive AllianceCardew2015
S-004N. HaddadProgressive AllianceNorthgate West2024
S-005M. OseiCivic UnionKingsmere2015
S-006J. BrennanCivic UnionHalloway2019
S-007T. NakamuraCivic UnionStonebridge2024
S-008L. VasquezCivic UnionEastmoor2011
S-009K. LindqvistGreen ListFenbrook2024
S-010D. AchterbergGreen ListWyecombe2019
S-011S. IyerIndependentsMarbury2024
S-012C. DuforestIndependentsPellhurst2015
Members =
DATATABLE (
    "Seat ID", STRING,
    "Member", STRING,
    "Party", STRING,
    "Constituency", STRING,
    "First elected", STRING,
    {
        { "S-001", "A. Whitcombe", "Progressive Alliance", "Northgate", "2019" },
        { "S-002", "R. Delgado", "Progressive Alliance", "Ashvale East", "2024" },
        { "S-003", "P. Ferreira", "Progressive Alliance", "Cardew", "2015" },
        { "S-004", "N. Haddad", "Progressive Alliance", "Northgate West", "2024" },
        { "S-005", "M. Osei", "Civic Union", "Kingsmere", "2015" },
        { "S-006", "J. Brennan", "Civic Union", "Halloway", "2019" },
        { "S-007", "T. Nakamura", "Civic Union", "Stonebridge", "2024" },
        { "S-008", "L. Vasquez", "Civic Union", "Eastmoor", "2011" },
        { "S-009", "K. Lindqvist", "Green List", "Fenbrook", "2024" },
        { "S-010", "D. Achterberg", "Green List", "Wyecombe", "2019" },
        { "S-011", "S. Iyer", "Independents", "Marbury", "2024" },
        { "S-012", "C. Duforest", "Independents", "Pellhurst", "2015" }
    }
)

Bind: Party → Party · Seat ID → Seat ID · Member, Constituency, First elected → Tooltips. Also add a Seats = COUNTROWS ( 'Members' ) measure to Seat Count, so other visuals can dim the arch — see Being filtered by other visuals.

Keep First elected as text so the tooltip displays the full year instead of abbreviating it as a quantity.

The twelve-seat committee with R. Delgado’s tooltip showing Progressive Alliance, Ashvale East and 2024

5. Nothing to do with politics — a headcount ring​

The same visual at 360° is a countable dot chart of any category.

TeamHeadcountSort Order
Engineering481
Sales312
Support223
Marketing124
Operations95
Finance66
Headcount =
DATATABLE (
    "Team", STRING,
    "Headcount", INTEGER,
    "Sort Order", INTEGER,
    {
        { "Engineering", 48, 1 },
        { "Sales", 31, 2 },
        { "Support", 22, 3 },
        { "Marketing", 12, 4 },
        { "Operations", 9, 5 },
        { "Finance", 6, 6 }
    }
)

Settings: Arc 360, Seat outline on (it separates the dots nicely at this size), Legend Right center, Seat counts on.

The 128-person headcount ring with six teams and seat outlines

Expanding totals into one row per seat​

If you have a totals table and want per-seat rows, the cleanest route is Power Query — see Party totals → one row per seat. If you'd rather stay in DAX, this builds the expanded table from the Chamber table above:

Chamber Seats =
VAR Expanded =
    GENERATE (
        Chamber,
        SELECTCOLUMNS ( GENERATESERIES ( 1, Chamber[Seats] ), "Seat No", [Value] )
    )
RETURN
    ADDCOLUMNS (
        Expanded,
        "Seat ID", Chamber[Party] & "-" & FORMAT ( [Seat No], "000" )
    )

The Seat ID expression prefixes the party name deliberately — Seat IDs must be unique across the whole dataset, and a bare 1, 2, 3… per party is not.

note

Power Query is the better home for this in a production model: a calculated table is recomputed on every refresh, and it can't be folded back to the source.

Next steps​

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