Mixed-Member Election and Candidate Selection in Bolivia's 1993 and 1997 Elections

Abstract

Mixed-member electoral systems became a popular choice for "electoral engineers" in the 1990s. Countries as diverse as Venezuela, Hungary, Lesotho, and Italy adopted the system. The assumption was that introducing single-member districts (SMDs) in countries that used list proportional representation electoral systems would introduce "constituency" oriented legislators who could be more easily held accountable to voters. This paper explores changes associated with the adoption of a mixed-member electoral system in Bolivia through a candidate-level analysis looking at differences in candidate profiles between two elections (1993 and 1997) and between two tiers (list and nominal). The paper relies on portion of a dataset (collected by the author) of Bolivian legislative candidates. The analysis shows mixed results: While SMD candidates were more likely to have municipal level political experience, there was no significant difference in the kind of legislative committees list and SMD candidates had served in.

The gendered political ambition cycle in mixed-member electoral systems

“…The more formalised and centralised process of balancing a party list also offers selectors opportunities to engage in ticket balancing, nominating both male and female candidates (Hazan and Rahat, 2010). In addition, in MMP electoral systems where political parties have made a commitment to diversifying representatives, affirmative action measures are usually combined with the list portion of the ballot (Iversen and Rosenbluth, 2010;Centellas, 2015). As a result of these measures in the PR tier, gatekeepers may feel less compelled to consider diversity as a criterion for the SMD tier.…”

“…Not only does the combination of the four mechanisms shape aspirations for each tier of the MMP system; together, they also shape descriptive representation itself, creating a 'gendered cycle'. In countries using MMP systems, such as Bolivia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Germany and New Zealand, women have been more likely to be elected as list MPs than district MPs (Fortin-Rittberger and Eder, 2013;Centellas, 2015;Davidson-Schmich, 2016;Piscopo, 2016;Vowles et al, 2017;Barker and Coffé, 2018). Women's greater likelihood of being elected as list MPs in previous elections provides an additional reason for female aspirants to see the list as the lower-cost tier to pursue, dimming their ambition to become a district MP.…”