Using Triangular Graphs for Representing, Exploring and Analysing Electoral Change

Abstract

Although electoral triangles have been used by several researchers to display election results in three-party contests, measures of change have not been derived from them that allow rigorous analysis of the interconstituency variations in change. We have recently derived two such measures, and in this paper subject them for the first time to analytic evaluation, and we use visualization methods to explore relationships and statistical procedures to test for them. The results shed new light on changes in the determinants of Great Britain's electoral geography between 1983 and 1987, and 1987 and 1992.