Behavioural majoritarianism: political culture and the failure of proportional rules in Albania (1991–2025)

Does the adoption of proportional representation (PR) automatically foster a proportional political culture? This article investigates the disconnect between institutional design and voter behaviour in Albania (1991–2025). Introducing the concept of ‘behavioral majoritarianism,’ it argues that despite the implementation of regional PR, citizens and elites continue to operate under a winner-take-all behavioural logic centred on personalized accountability rather than programmatic parties. Drawing on longitudinal electoral data and original findings from the 2024–25 Euronews® Albania Barometer, the study reveals a critical representation gap: while the system is formally PR, 58 per cent of voters prefer candidate-based voting, yet 53 per cent cannot name their representative. These findings demonstrate that institutional engineering alone is insufficient to ensure substantive representation. The article concludes that without behavioural adaptation, PR institutions in post-Communist contexts may simply reproduce majoritarian dominance, resulting in a stable equilibrium of distrust.