Institute for Mathematical Behavioral Sciences

Voters in elections under plurality rule face relatively straightforward, and well documented, incentives when it comes to voting. Voters in proportional representation systems face more complex incentives as electoral outcomes don't translate as directly into policy outcomes as is the case in plurality rule elections. A common approach is to assume electoral outcomes translate into policy as a vote-weighted average of all the party platforms. Most of the world's legislatures are, however, majoritarian institutions and elections in proportional representation systems are generally followed by a process of coalition formation. I consider models of proportional representation that take account of the majoritarian nature of legislatures and demonstrate, first, that existing results are not robust to minimal forms of majoritarianism and, second, that voters have an incentive to vote strategically. Moreover, in line with the findings in the literature, the voters' equilibrium strategies are shaped by both policy balancing and coalitional considerations.