Replication Data for: Asking Territories. The Constituency Orientation of Italian and French Members of the European Parliament.

In this article we explore the potential for electoral systems to influence the attitudes and behavior of elected representatives. Focusing on ‘constituency representation’, we consider how variation in electoral systems may shape forms of political representation. An analysis of written parliamentary questions (PQs) offers an important instrument to look at the role of individual parliamentarians even where, as in the European Parliament case, political parties enforce discipline in roll-call voting. This kind of investigation offers the opportunity to (partially) resolve many empirical and theoretical problems related to the other methods of research. In particular, unlike legislative voting behavior and parliamentary speeches, PQs are a free-choice of each legislator and party leadership does not control them. This article analyses the constituency focus of two national delegations in the European Parliament that differ on the two main dimensions of electoral systems (ballot structure and district magnitude): the Italian and French delegations. The study is conducted through the content analysis of 5343 written parliamentary questions asked by Italian and French MEPs during the sixth term (2004-2009). The results suggest that despite the MEPs’ lack of electoral connection MEPs, electoral institutions shape the legislative behavior of the Italian and French parliamentarians.