Influences of the Electoral System on the Party System: A Comparative Study of Taiwan’s Presidential Election, County Magistrate and Mayoral Election, Legislator Election, and Missionary National Assembly Representative Election
Author: Po-Yu Lee
Abstract / Chinese PDF Download
“Do institutions matter?” This question has been important to the study ofpolitical science, in recent years especially to the study of the relation betweenpolitical behavior and its outcomes. Most scholars tend to regard the institutionalorganization and practice as influential factors directly relevant to the operation ofthe electoral system as well as that of the party system. To clarify this generalpresupposition, this paper focuses on the linkage between “individual choice” and“institutional design” and adopts a “cross-level analysis” to examine therelationship between institutional choices of the electoral system and the formationof different types of party system. Moreover, this paper attempts to show thatdifferent kinds of electoral systems will lead to distinctive outcomes, which couldinfluence the formation of the party system as well as individual voting behavior.To demonstrate the influences of the electoral system exerted on the individualdecision, this paper further explores how the “mechanical factor” regulated by theelectoral system constrains the “psychological factor” of the voter’s mind andeventually leads to the so-called “strategic voting” or “complex voting.” In addition,to infer possible reasons for the influences of the electoral system on the party system, this paper employs the number of valid parties as an indicator of thefragmentation of the party system. This number is the analytical result of theempirical data from Taiwan Presidential Election, County Magistrate and MayoralElection, Legislator Election, and Missionary National Assembly RepresentativeElection. The effective number of parties is utilized to analyze the electoral resultsof three electoral systems—plurality with single-member-district system, singlenon-transferable vote, and proportional representation. Through the analysis, thispaper intends to show that these three electoral systems do respectively lead to quitedifferent consequences in the distinctive forms of the district-level and the national-level party system.