Can Elections Motivate Responsiveness in a Single-Party Regime? Experimental Evidence from Vietnam

A growing body of evidence attests that legislators are sometimes responsive to the policy preferences citizens in single-party regimes, yet debate surrounds mechanisms driving this relationship. We experimentally test two potential responsiveness mechanisms—elections versus mandates from party leaders—by provisioning delegates Vietnamese National Assembly with information on their constituents and reminding them either (1) competitiveness upcoming 2021 elections or (2) a central decree legislative activities should reflect constituents’ preferences. Consistent existing work, informed citizens’ more likely speak parliamentary floor closed-session caucuses. Importantly, we find such is entirely driven by election reminders; upward incentive reminders have virtually no effect behavior.