Do voters turn out more under proportional than majoritarian systems? The evidence from Swiss communal elections

What is the impact of the electoral system on voting turnout? Due to the re stricted number of countries and their heterogeneity, cross-national studie s do not allow for the required statistical analysis of this much-discussed question. Because they use different electoral systems and exercise import ant powers, the Swiss communities (communes) offer a useful set of comparab le political entities using either a PR or a majority system. Our study of these communities reveals evidence supporting the thesis that participation is higher under PR systems. As expected, PR also goes in hand with more po litical parties, but only in the smaller communities. This is not the case in the larger communities, yet there is still a positive, though more modes t association between PR and turnout in community elections. However, in th ose PR communities voting turnout is also higher for cantonal and national elections where there are no differences concerning the voting system. This leads us to suggest that there must be more behind PR voting than a simple "mechanical effect". (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.