Replication Data for: The Effects of Exposure to New Electoral Rules: Field Experimental Evidence from Sierra Leone

How do electoral rules influence voters? We build on existing research that has examined voter, rather than elite, reactions to electoral rules and implement a field experiment around a switch from single-member plurality rules to multi-member closed-list proportional rules in Sierra Leone, expanding the study of electoral rules' influence on voters further into the Global South. We find that exposure to MMD/PR increased women’s commitment to voting and decreased both men's and women's support for particularistic campaign appeals in this context. These results likely flow from voters' perceptions of whether politicians are accountable to parties or to voters under different systems, rather than from increased party competition, new party entry, a clear switch to programmatic party competition, or increased trust in elections. We discuss implications for studying electoral rules in clientelistic democracies.选举规则如何影响选民？本研究立足于现有聚焦选民而非精英对选举规则反应的相关研究，围绕塞拉利昂从单名多数制（single-member plurality）向多议席封闭名单比例代表制（multi-member closed-list proportional rules）的制度转型开展了一项田野实验，将选举规则对选民影响的研究范畴进一步拓展至全球南方地区。本研究发现，在该研究情境中，接触多议席比例代表制（MMD/PR）会提升女性的投票参与意愿，同时降低男性与女性群体对特殊主义竞选诉求的支持度。上述结果大概率源于选民对不同选举制度下政客是对政党负责还是对选民负责的认知差异，而非政党竞争加剧、新政党入局、明确转向纲领性政党竞争，或是选民对选举的信任度提升所导致。本研究最后讨论了在庇护主义民主政体中开展选举规则研究的相关启示。