MPs’ Constituency Orientation in the Absence of Electoral Districts: The Case of Extreme Proportional Electoral Systems

Abstract

Abstract This article examines MPs’ constituency orientation in two of the most ‘extreme’ cases of proportional representation, Israel and the Netherlands. Both countries are considered as limiting cases, providing evidence of the type of geographically based representation we are likely to see when there are no electoral institutions which encourage a geographical link between voters and representatives. While the literature predicts the geographical connection between voters and representatives in extreme proportional electoral systems to be minimal, this article finds this to hold true for the Netherlands but not for Israel. It then seeks to find factors explaining variation in MPs’ constituency orientation in the absence of electoral incentives.