Cookies?
Library Header Image
LSE Research Online LSE Library Services

Open/closed list and party choice: experimental evidence from the UK

Blumenau, Jack, Eggers, Andy, Hangartner, Dominik and Hix, Simon (2017) Open/closed list and party choice: experimental evidence from the UK. British Journal of Political Science, 47 (4). 809 - 827. ISSN 0007-1234

[img]
Preview
PDF - Accepted Version
Download (898kB) | Preview

Identification Number: 10.1017/S0007123415000629

Abstract

Which parties benefit from open-list (as opposed to closed-list) proportional representation elections? This article shows that a move from closed-list to open-list competition is likely to be more favorable to parties with more internal disagreement on salient issues; this is because voters who might have voted for a unified party under closed lists may be drawn to specific candidates within internally divided parties under open lists. The study provides experimental evidence of this phenomenon in a hypothetical European Parliament election in the UK, in which using an open-list ballot would shift support from UKIP (the Eurosceptic party) to Eurosceptic candidates of the Conservative Party. The findings suggest that open-list ballots could restrict support for parties that primarily mobilize on a single issue.

Item Type: Article
Official URL: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJourna...
Additional Information: © 2016 Cambridge University Press
Divisions: Government
Subjects: J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe) > JN101 Great Britain
Date Deposited: 17 Jun 2015 09:03
Last Modified: 19 Sep 2024 05:27
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/62331

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics