This paper extends the geographic coverage of a robust psychological effect of mixed member electoral systems on legislative elites. Adoption of mixed-member electoral systems constitutes one of the major electoral reform trends of the last decades. In Latin America Bolivia and Mexico, among others, today use a mixed-member electoral system. The theory on electoral systems’ effects stipulates that a concurrent use of different electoral formulas creates diverging impacts on the calculus of both voters and legislators. Advocates of majoritarian formulas claim that electing legislators in single member districts enforces a close relationship between district voters and their representatives. We analyze whether legislators elected under different rules in these two countries have modified their role orientations and find that legislators elected in single member districts were indeed more likely to focus on their constituents than colleagues elected under proportional representation.
