Practice question · True or false
Duverger's law holds more reliably at district level than at national level.
Hints
- Consider a party with strong support concentrated in one region.
- Regionally concentrated parties win seats despite small national shares.
Show the answer
True
Why
True. The mechanical and psychological effects operate within each district, so a party concentrated in one region can win seats comfortably while polling a few per cent nationally. That is why plurality systems reliably contain more than two parties at national level while approximating two-party competition constituency by constituency.
Practise Electoral Systems
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More questions on Electoral Systems
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