<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>The authors are testing the patterns of geographical representation in single nationwide district closed-list PR systems, in the framework of an earlier study made by Latner and McGann (2005), who suggested that MPs mostly reside in central metropolitan areas, as well as in distant regions, to the detriment of descriptive representation of areas adjacent to the capital. In this way, spatial distance serves as an incentive for parties to nominate lists comprised mostly of candidates from metropolitan urban centres who can easily reach the mid-distance municipalities for campaigning and constituency service, but also of those candidates residing in peripheral regions in which there is some sort of political or ethno-cultural saliency, prompting the voters to prefer their local candidates over capital city politicians. Authors are offering a novel approach of measuring and comparing spatial distance to the data on representation of local administrative units and regional subdivisions of four countries (Montenegro, Netherlands, Serbia and Slovakia). While the findings indeed indicate overrepresentation of capital cities and underrepresentation of neighbouring areas, the representation of peripheral areas is not significantly pronounced and seemingly depends more on a contextual case-to-case basis than on a general pattern related to spatial distance producing political or ethno-cultural saliency.</p>
</abstract>

The authors are testing the patterns of geographical representation in single nationwide district closed-list PR systems, in the framework of an earlier study made by Latner and McGann (2005), who suggested that MPs mostly reside in central metropolitan areas, as well as in distant regions, to the detriment of descriptive representation of areas adjacent to the capital. In this way, spatial distance serves as an incentive for parties to nominate lists comprised mostly of candidates from metropolitan urban centres who can easily reach the mid-distance municipalities for campaigning and constituency service, but also of those candidates residing in peripheral regions in which there is some sort of political or ethno-cultural saliency, prompting the voters to prefer their local candidates over capital city politicians. Authors are offering a novel approach of measuring and comparing spatial distance to the data on representation of local administrative units and regional subdivisions of four countries (Montenegro, Netherlands, Serbia and Slovakia). While the findings indeed indicate overrepresentation of capital cities and underrepresentation of neighbouring areas, the representation of peripheral areas is not significantly pronounced and seemingly depends more on a contextual case-to-case basis than on a general pattern related to spatial distance producing political or ethno-cultural saliency.

Spatial Distance and Representation in Closed PR List: Revisiting the U-Curve Argument

Politics in Central Europe

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The authors are testing the patterns of geographical representation in single nationwide district closed-list PR systems, in the framework of an earlier study...

Spatial Distance and Representation in Closed PR List: Revisiting the U-Curve Argument

Published Online: Sep 28, 2023

Page range: 471 - 487

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/pce-2023-0023

Keywords
political geography, PR list, closed-list, single nationwide district, descriptive representation, Montenegro, Netherlands, Serbia, Slovakia

© 2023 Dejan Bursać et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Spatial Distance and Representation in Closed PR List: Revisiting the U-Curve Argument

Published Online: Sep 28, 2023

Page range: 471 - 487

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/pce-2023-0023

Keywordspolitical geography, PR list, closed-list, single nationwide district, descriptive representation, Montenegro, Netherlands, Serbia, Slovakia

© 2023 Dejan Bursać et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
political geography, PR list, closed-list, single nationwide district, descriptive representation, Montenegro, Netherlands, Serbia, Slovakia