CONSTITUENCY CAMPAIGNING IN PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEMS WITH PREFERENTIAL VOTING - IS THERE A PARADOX

This paper sets out to show whether constituency campaign effects exis t, particularly in the context of a preferential electoral system such as Australia's. Data from the 1993 Australian Election Study suggest that, despite the best efforts of the candidates, local campaigning ha s a very Limited impact on the vote. The paper considers a range of po ssible explanations for this limited impact: displacement, MPs' percep tions of their role, sources of campaign information, the importance o f party labels in Australia, party discipline. It concludes with an ex planation for the apparent paradox of why candidates bother campaignin g when it does not make a difference to their vote. Copyright (C) 1996 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.