Larger Dishes Stir More Stew: How District Size Fuels Electoral Contestation

Contrary to classical theory suggesting a negative relationship between polity size and democracy, this paper reveals an exception at the district level. Multiparty competition settings show that larger districts correlate with increased electoral contestation due to both mechanical effects related to constituency features.

Data & Methods:

• Leveraged the Multi-level Election Archive (MLEA), a comprehensive dataset uniting data across various levels and regions.
• Included contests from 88 countries, analyzing over 400,000 contests spanning elections since the 17th century.
• Employed both global statistical tests and country-specific analyses to validate findings.

Key Findings:

• Size significantly impacts electoral behavior at the district level.
• Larger districts foster more intense competition among multiple parties.
• This effect persists regardless of specific election types or geographical regions.

Why It Matters:

The results provide empirical grounding for understanding democratic dynamics beyond national scales, offering insights into local governance and electoral system design.