Original
The Effects of Exposure to New Electoral Rules: Field Experimental Evidence from Sierra Leone
Abstract
How do electoral rules influence voters? We build on existing research that has examined voter, rather than elite, reactions to electoral rules and implement a field experiment around a switch from single-member plurality rules to multi-member closed-list proportional rules (PR) in Sierra Leone, expanding the study of electoral rules’ influence on voters further into the Global South. We find that exposure to multimember district/PR increased women’s commitment to voting and decreased both men’s and women’s support for particularistic campaign appeals in this context. These results likely flow from voters’ perceptions of whether politicians are accountable to parties or to voters under different systems, rather than from increased party competition, new party entry, a clear switch to programmatic party competition, or increased trust in elections. We discuss the implications for studying electoral rules in clientelistic democracies.
中文
接触新选举规则的影响：来自塞拉利昂的实地实验证据
摘要
选举规则如何影响选民？我们基于既有研究——这些研究考察的是选民而非精英对选举规则的反应——在塞拉利昂围绕从单一议员多数制规则转向多议员封闭名单比例代表制（PR）实施了一项实地实验，从而将选举规则对选民影响的研究进一步拓展至全球南方。我们发现，在这种情境下，接触多议员选区/比例代表制提高了女性投票的承诺，并降低了男性和女性对特殊主义竞选诉求的支持。这些结果可能源于选民对不同制度下政客是对政党还是对选民负责的认知，而非源于政党竞争加剧、新政党进入、明确转向纲领性政党竞争，或对选举信任的增强。我们讨论了在庇护主义民主国家研究选举规则的含义。
关键词
选举规则、实地实验、塞拉利昂、比例代表制、选民行为、性别、庇护主义、全球南方