The choice of electoral system is one of the most important institutional decisions for any democracy.

In almost all cases the choice of a particular electoral system has a profound effect on the future political life of the country concerned, and electoral systems, once chosen, often remain fairly constant as political interests solidify around and respond to the incentives presented by them.

International IDEA’s Electoral System Design Database provides global comparative data on six variables for the period from 1991 to present. This Codebook provides detailed explanations of the variables and answer options in the Database.