Introducing the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems in Tunisia: Populist Attitudes, Political Preferences, and Voting Behavior

Mehrez, Ameni and Littvay, Levente and Meddeb, Youssef and Todosijevic, Bojan and Schneider, Carsten (2023) Introducing the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems in Tunisia: Populist Attitudes, Political Preferences, and Voting Behavior. MEDITERRANEAN POLITICS. pp. 1-24. ISSN 1362-9395 (print); 1743-9418 (online)

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Abstract

Although public opinion research has gained prominence in the Middle East and North Africa region since 2011, data on electoral behaviour and political attitudes are scarce and rarely have a comparative focus. This research note introduces a new post-election survey conducted after the 2019 Tunisian elections. The project contributes to the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) database. In its 26-year history no country other than Israel was ever part of the CSES from the Middle East and North Africa region. Tunisia is the first Arab country to be covered in the CSES. We introduce this new research resource, its methodology, and its themes. We also provide some preliminary results from the main topic of the CSES between 2016 and 2021: populist attitudes. Using a three-dimensional model, we find that people who score high on the populist attitudes measures do not necessarily have a higher preference for populist parties or candidates. Contrary to consistent results from advanced industrial democracies, we also find that people who endorse nativism are more likely to support left-wing parties. This research note illustrates the importance of such datasets and how they contribute to a specific topic: understanding populism across multiple contexts.

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