| Popis: |
Previous studies examining whether introducing the Mixed-Member-Majoritarian (MMM) electoral system to Japan’s lower house in 1994 makes a difference in Japanese politics have stimulated a number of researchers on comparative politics. By introducing the MMM electoral system, especially its single member district plurality (SMDP) tier, researchers have expected to see policy-oriented electoral campaign. Employing the latest cutting-edge face-recognition technology on candidates, we provide new evidences suggesting that the SMDP system encourages party- oriented elections compared to the Single Non-Transferable Vote (SNTV) electoral system which was used prior to 1994 for Japan’s lower house elections. The results of regression analyses using the six lower house election (1980, 1983, 1986, 2000, 2014 and 2017) data show that, compared to the elections under the SNTV, the impact of candidate’s smile on the vote share of candidates under the SMDP has been diminished even after controlling for other covariates. |
