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Home Issues Backissues Volume 31, No.1 The Effects of Electoral Competition and Information on Voter Turnout: The Case of the Local Council Election in Taiwan,

The Effects of Electoral Competition and Information on Voter Turnout: The Case of the Local Council Election in Taiwan,

Hung-che Chen and Tsung-han Tsai
2018 / 11
Volume 25, No.2

pp.55-88
10.6612/tjes.201811_25(2).0003
Paper

Abstract

This article examines the effects of electoral competition on voter turnout conditional on the number of co-partisan candidates and incumbent reelection rates. Utilizing the advantages of SNTV-MMD systems such as the variations in the number of co-partisan candidates and incumbent reelection rates across districts, we conduct a data analysis of 486 districts of local councilors in Taiwan from 2005 to 2014, which are time-series crosssectional data. We analyze the data by employing multilevel beta regression models and the results show that, when the number of co-partisan candidates or incumbent reelection rates are relatively high, strong electoral competition significantly fosters voter turnout. The results have important implications for the effects of SNTV-MMD systems on voter turnout.

Keywords

electoral competition

electoral information

voter turnout

local councilor elections

multilevel beta regression model