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The Indirect Effect of Electoral Rules on Citizens’ Satisfaction with Democracy: A Comparative Study
Author(s) -
Papp Zsófia
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
swiss political science review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.632
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1662-6370
pISSN - 1424-7755
DOI - 10.1111/spsr.12497
Subject(s) - proportionality (law) , democracy , affect (linguistics) , political science , multilevel model , comparative research , survey data collection , european social survey , representation (politics) , proportional representation , national election , social psychology , public administration , psychology , sociology , law , politics , social science , statistics , mathematics , communication
The aim of this study is to understand how electoral rules affect citizens’ satisfaction with democracy. The focus is on the extent to which this effect is mediated by the constituency orientation of legislators and the proportionality of election results. The analysis combines data from the European Social Survey and the Comparative Candidates Survey and covers 24 elections from 14 European countries. The multilevel SEM suggests two results. On the one hand, what majority and some mixed‐member electoral systems gain through increasing constituency orientation, they lose to disproportional election results. On the other hand, open and flexible lists perform better in increasing satisfaction than closed ballots. Importantly, the analysis reveals a winner‐loser gap in how constituency representation and proportionality affect democratic satisfaction. Both are more important for the losers of the elections when they evaluate democratic performance.