Can PR voting serve as a shelter against declining turnout ? : Evidence from Swiss municipal elections
Details
Serval ID
serval:BIB_9CE62E57C78A
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Can PR voting serve as a shelter against declining turnout ? : Evidence from Swiss municipal elections
Journal
International Political Science Review
ISSN
0192-5121
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2006
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
27
Number
1
Pages
29-45
Language
english
Abstract
To assess the impact of electoral systems on voting turnout, cross-national studies can be usefully complemented by studies of turnout in local elections in countries using more than one electoral system at that level. In this article, we look at data from a 1998 survey of Swiss municipalities to revisit the findings of our earlier study. This previous study, based on a 1988 survey, concluded, in particular, that there exists a positive relationship between proportional representation elections, party politicization, and voter turnout. The moment is opportune since, in the interval, turnout has markedly declined in Swiss municipalities, as elsewhere. By testing whether municipalities with proportional representation voting were more or less successful in stemming the decline, we learn more about the relationship among these three phenomena. We use the results for those Swiss municipalities which participated in both surveys as our primary source.
Keywords
Local political parties, municipalities, participation, proportional representation voting, voting system, voting turnout
Create date
05/03/2014 11:02
Last modification date
20/08/2019 15:03