The Particularities of Voting Behaviour in the Bavarian Landtag Electoral System

The paper will discuss the impact of the Bavarian Landtag electoral system on voting behaviour. The inspiration for this analysis is the peculiarity of the electoral system employed in Bavaria. The unique features of this system, which differentiate it from the electoral system used in Bundestag elections, allow us to examine how the same group of voters expresses their political preferences in two different electoral systems. The second-order nature of state-level elections has been considered the primary (and often the only) reason for the differences in voter behaviour observed during Landtag and Bundestag elections. In fact, it is difficult to deny the validity of this thesis, as the lower political significance of these elections certainly encourages some voters to express their support in a more expressive or even experimental manner, which they would not have done in the Bundestag elections for fear of the potential political consequences for the election results. However, this is not the only factor determining voter behaviour. As shown by the results of the latest research conducted in the context of the electoral system used in Baden-Württemberg between 1952 and 2021 (Flis, J., & Salamon, J. (2025). Comparison of Voter Behaviour in Two Electoral Systems of Baden-Württemberg. German Politics, https://doi.org/10.1080/09644008.2025.2565228), the design of the Landtag electoral system also influences the way in which at least part of the electorate decides to support competing political parties and candidates. The results of the analysis conducted in Baden-Württemberg are in sharp contrast to conventional perceptions of electoral system consequences, thus confirming that facile associations do not correspond to the real effects of specific institutional arrangements. The peculiarity of the electoral system employed to elect the Bavarian Landtag provides an excellent opportunity to illustrate its impact on the voting behaviour of the electorate, candidates, and political parties. To do so, electoral behaviour in Landtag and Bundestag elections was analysed, both in Bavaria and in the Länder where the electoral systems for state parliaments and the lower house of the federal parliament are similar. The focus was primarily on the incentives generated by each electoral system that encourage voters to vote strategically and the consequences of such electoral behaviour for party competition.