Election Timing and Government Response to COVID-19

• In Event: Political Consequences of Election Timing

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the governments to make some difficult political decisions. Each government tries to contain the spread of COVID-19 in various ways, but some measures -- such as lockdown and closure of the national border -- seem to harm the economy. The government, one of whose goals is to get reelected, has to make a risky decision of how strict their strategy for combating the disease should be. While newly elected governments are given some time to show that their anti-COVID-19 measures are effective, the governments standing on the verge of the next election must promptly choose the strategy they believe will bring the electoral victory. Thus, we argue that election timing affects the government reaction to COVID-19 in democracies. Using publicly available data, we theorize and test the conditional effects of the closeness to upcoming elections on governments' response to COVID-19.

Authors

• Hidekuni Washida, Toyo University

• Yuki Yanai, Kochi University of Technology