PREFERENCES, VOTING RULES, BEHAVIOUR AND OUTCOMES. A FIELD EXPERIMENT ON THE LOCAL ELECTIONS IN ROMANIA
PREFERENCES, VOTING RULES, BEHAVIOUR AND OUTCOMES. A FIELD EXPERIMENT ON THE LOCAL ELECTIONS IN ROMANIA

Summary/Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to study the electoral behaviour of the Romanian voters under different voting rules, looking to answer the question regarding the extent to which voting rules matter in the local context. In order to achieve this purpose, I use the results of a pilot field experiment conducted in Bucharest during the local elections, which took place on the 10th of June 2012. Using the experimental results, I aim to answer two types of research questions. The first concerns the extent to which results obtained through different voting rules really differ in a real life setting, and if so, whether it is due only to the aggregation rule or also to a change in electoral behaviour caused by changing the rule. The second one concerns strategic behaviour in particular and aims to see to what extent strategic voting existed in these elections and whether some rules actually encourage strategic voting more than others, as theory predicts.

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