Announcing Local Government Relief Aid - Electoral Effects During a Pandemic

ABSTRACT Government relief aid policies are vitally important in response to disasters. Based on the literature on the politics of natural disasters, this article examines the effect on the election results of local governments’ policy announcements in response to a pandemic. Using data from the 2020 Korean general election with the Instrumental Variable methodology, both the announcement and the provision of relief aid contributed to the victory of the ruling party’s candidates. Management of both supply-side and demand-side relief aid policies affects election results. Lastly, the relationship between the announcement and the election is also affected by the characteristics of local governments (e.g. population size and partisanship).