Elections

DES Version 4.1 (and DD 1946-2020)

Nils-Christian Bormann and I are releasing version 4.1 of the Democratic Electoral Systems (DES) dataset. The new dataset represents a slight update to version 4.0. It continues to cover all of the legislative and presidential elections that have taken place in democratic states from 1946 through 2020. It also continues to include information on all elections that are considered democratic by at least one of five different measures of regime type: Democracy and Dictatorship (DD), Freedom House (FH), Polity5, Boix-Miller-Rosato (BMR), and Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The DES 4.1 dataset provides information on electoral rules and party system size for 1,578 lower-house parliamentary and 602 first-round presidential elections in democracies. In addition to DES 4.1, we are releasing an updated (1946-2020) country-year version of the Democracy-Dictatorship (DD) measure that was originally provided through 2008 by Cheibub, Gandhi, & Vreeland (2010).

If you use DES 4.1, please cite Nils-Christian Bormann & Matt Golder. 2022. “Democratic Electoral Systems Around the World, 1946-2020.” Electoral Studies 78.

And if you use the updated version of the DD measure, we request that you cite both our article as well as that by Cheibub, Gandhi, & Vreeland.

Below, you will find information on the older versions of the dataset.

DES Version 4.0

Nils-Christian Bormann and I are now releasing version 4.0 of the Democratic Electoral Systems (DES) dataset. The new dataset extends the temporal scope of the existing dataset so that it now covers all of the legislative and presidential elections that have taken place in democratic states from 1946 through 2020. More significantly, the DES dataset now includes information on all elections that are considered democratic by at least one of five different measures of regime type: Democracy and Dictatorship (DD), Freedom House (FH), Polity5, Boix-Miller-Rosato (BMR), and Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The new dataset provides information on electoral rules and party system size for 1,563 lower-house parliamentary and 592 first-round presidential elections in democracies. The new dataset also includes a few changes to our earlier data. All of our changes are documented in our Change Log.

If you use these new data, please cite Nils-Christian Bormann & Matt Golder. 2022. “Democratic Electoral Systems Around the World, 1946-2020.” Electoral Studies 78.

DES Version 3.0

Nils-Christian Bormann and I are now releasing version 3.0 of the Democratic Electoral Systems (DES) dataset. The new dataset extends the temporal scope of the existing dataset so that it now covers all of the legislative and presidential elections that have taken place in democratic states from 1946 through 2016. In total, the new dataset includes information on 1,343 legislative elections and 499 presidential elections. In addition to extending the temporal scope of the dataset, we have also made a few changes to our earlier data. All of our changes are documented in our Change Log.  Thanks to Nils-Christian, you can use our Electoral System Family Map App to visually see the geographic distribution of electoral system families by decade.

If you use these new data, please cite Nils-Christian Bormann & Matt Golder. 2013. “Democratic Electoral Systems Around the World, 1946-2011.” Electoral Studies 32: 360-369.

DES Version 2.0

Nils-Christian Bormann & Matt Golder. 2013. “Democratic Electoral Systems Around the World, 1946-2011.” Electoral Studies 32: 360-369. [replication materials]

Abstract: This research note describes an update to Golder’s (2005) Democratic Electoral Systems (DES) dataset. We extend the temporal scope of the original dataset by including all legislative and presidential elections that took place in democratic states from 2001 through 2011. In addition to significantly expanding the size of the DES dataset, we offer a simplified classification scheme for electoral systems. We also provide more detailed information about all democratic elections since 1946, including the dates for each round of elections as well as the rules used in different electoral tiers. A brief temporal and geographic overview of the data is presented.

If you use these data, please cite the article listed above.

DES Version 1.0

Matt Golder. 2005. “Democratic electoral Systems Around the World, 1946-2000.” Electoral Studies 24: 103-121.

Abstract: Electoral institutions are often considered an important independent or dependent variable in many areas of political science. However, problems with data availability have often artificially constrained much of our empirical research to particular geographic regions or time periods. This article describes a new dataset that covers the electoral institutions used in all of the democratic legislative and presidential elections in 199 countries between 1946 (or independence) and 2000. This amounts to 867 legislative elections and 294 presidential elections. A clear and consistent classification of the electoral institutions used in these elections is followed by a concise geographical and temporal analysis. The worldwide focuse of the dataset reveals several striking patterns. For example, there have been almost as many elections under dictatorship as there have been under democracy. Other patterns include the fact that presidential regimes nearly always employ proportional electoral formulas, absolute majority rule has become the worldwide norm for electing presidents, majoritarian electoral systems account for the same percentage of legislative elections as they did in the 1950s, and non-majoritarian systems have become more complex due to the increasing use of multiple tiers and mixed electoral formulas.

If you use these data, please cite the article listed above.