RT Journal Article
T1 Gender affinity effects between female voters and women leaders in parliamentary elections: Cross-national evidence (1996-2016)
A1 Ortega Villodres, Carmen
A1 Recuero López, Fátima
A1 Oñate Rubalcaba, Pablo
K1 Gender affinity effects
K1 Female party leaders
K1 Vote
K1 Parliamentary elections
K1 Electoral systems
AB An increasing amount of literature has demonstrated that party leaders affect voting behavior in parliamentary elections. However, the electoral impact of female leadership of political parties has been under-researched. The gender affinity hypothesis suggests that when women run for presidential or prime ministerial office, women are more likely than men to vote for them. Using data from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems project, we tested gender affinity effects between female voters and female party leaders in mixed-sex legislative elections, that is, elections involving at least one female party candidate for prime minister, in parliamentary and semi-presidential systems. We analyzed 50 elections held from 1996 to 2016 in 24 countries. The results showed that female leaders were better evaluated by women and that women were more likely than men to vote for them. However, the gender affinity effects were small and not largely conditioned or not conditioned at all by other factors, such as some voters’ characteristics and electoral setting.
PB SAGE
YR 2025
FD 2025-03-01
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10433/27295
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10433/27295
LA en
NO Ortega, C., Recuero, F., & Oñate, P. (2025). Gender affinity effects between female voters and women leaders in parliamentary elections: Cross-national evidence (1996-2016). Party Politics, 31(2), 335-350. https://doi.org/10.1177/13540688231221124
NO This study was supported by the Operational Program: Andalusia ERDF 2014-2020: B-SEJ-508-UGR18 and Research Program AICO2023.
NO Universidad Pablo de Olavide. Departamento de Derecho Público
DS RIO
RD Aug 5, 2026