Policy-Balancing Voting in a One-Party Dominant System

• In Event: Achieving Representation in Electoral Democracies

Abstract

Kedar (2005) demonstrates that voters who anticipate a post-election coalition negotiation among parties may vote strategically to influence policy choices (policy-balancing voting). Extending this thesis, I argue that a policy-balancing voting can occur in one-party dominant systems as well. In such systems, the dominant party is sure to return to power after an election. Yet, if opposition parties perform relatively well in an election, the dominant party's powers may be restrained. Thus, among the voters who support the dominant party, there can be a subset of voters who strategically vote for an opposition party so that policies may not become "too extreme" or the ruling party will not abuse power in office. I test this argument by analyzing data from Japan.

Author

• Ko Maeda, University of North Texas