The electoral politics literature has described several regular relationships between electoral institutions and electoral behavior and outcomes, primarily in established democracies. However, the electoral process in some new democracies has shown considerable deviation from predicted behavior and outcomes in comparison to established democracies. Scholars have noted large numbers of parties, multiple changes in electoral law, the emergence and persistence of personal vote systems, and party and voter volatility in transitioning and post-conflict democracies, even though they have formal electoral institutions that should discourage these behavior and outcomes. This observed divergence suggests that the same institutions in established democracies do not function in the equivalent way for transitioning and post-conflict democracies. Using comparative elections to analyze the effect of electoral institutions, I argue that electoral behavior and outcomes in new democracies rely not only on electoral institutions but also institutional strength, the availability of public information, ethnic fragmentation, and institutional legacies.
