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

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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:	05 Apr 2024 17:54
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/62331

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