Party-determined viability and gender bias in open-list proportional representation systems

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Centrinės ir Rytų Europos šalys; Lytis; Lyčių šališkumas; Proporcinio atstovavimo sistema; Proporcinė atstovavimo sistema; And Eastern European countries; Candidate viability; Central; Central and Eastern European countries; Gender; Gender bias; Lithuania; Proportional representation systems.

ENUsing individual-level data fromthree Lithuanian legislative elections (2008, 2012, 2016), this article investigates voter bias in an open-list proportional representation systeminwhich parties rank candidates but voters are able to fully influence the rank order through preferential voting. This study examines the average effects of and variation in gender bias among voters of different parties. Most importantly, it also investigates how party cues interact with gender cues—that is, whether discriminatory tendencies vary by a candidate’s partydetermined viability. After establishing that there is no evidence of elite bias in favor of or against women candidates, with the exception of the Social Democrats and a few other parties, I demonstrate that, on average, female Lithuanian politicians receive approximately 7% fewer preferential votes than their male counterparts. In addition, the models predict that gender bias is most pronounced against the female candidates who are best placed to enter parliament. Finally, I demonstrate that Social Democratic voters are, on average, the most undisposed toward female candidates, correcting for positive elite bias toward female candidates from the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party, while voters of the Homeland Union party (conservatives) strongly prefer women politicians. [From the publication]

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