Monthly Archives: January 2013

Rental Votes in Action in Lower Saxony

By Steffen Zittlau and Thomas Gschwend, University of Mannheim What is the story? Last election in Lower Saxony was a very close race. In the evening of Jan. 20, the first projections that came in saw the incumbent right-wing CDU-FDP coalition in a very narrow lead, later in the evening the projections shifted in favor […]

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The impact of a low electoral threshold on Israeli coalition politics

By Renan Levine, Lecturer, University of Toronto-Scarborough What is the story? In a previous blog entry, Steffen Zittlau and Thomas Gschwend discussed the intricacies of how electoral thresholds must concern instrumental voters who seek to influence post-election coalition negotiations in Lower Saxony. In Israel, the electoral system provides centrifugal incentives for voters to cast votes […]

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State Election in Lower Saxony: The Intricacies of Electoral Thresholds

By Steffen Zittlau and Thomas Gschwend, University of Mannheim What is the story? On January 20, the citizens of the German state of Lower Saxony will elect a new state parliament. These elections are seen as a dress rehearsal for the next federal election in September this year. Angela Merkel for instance plans to speak […]

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Support for independence and referendum in the Catalan parliament

by Marc Guinjoan, Associate Professor, Pompeu Fabra University http://elpatidescobert.cat/ What is the story? The Catalan elections held in last November were perceived by many observers as decisive for the region. The ruling nationalist and centre-right party Convergència i Unió (CiU) called early elections with the promise to hold a referendum on Catalan independence during the […]

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