Split‐Ticket Voting inSouthKorea's 2012 National Assembly Election

Abstract

What motivates split‐ticket voting in mixed electoral systems? These systems allocate seats in single‐member districts (SMDs) and by proportional representation (PR) to the same legislative house and have proliferated in Asia as well as globally. Using public opinion data from South Korea's 2012 National Assembly election, this article identifies that supporters of smaller parties are more likely to split their tickets. This is consistent with the “best of both worlds” thesis that presumes two‐party competition in SMDs and multiparty competition under PR. The results suggest that despite scholarly claims of an Asian divergence in electoral outputs, the South Korean case appears consistent with theoretical expectations from outside the region.