This paper explores the link between return migration and political outcomes in the origin
country, using the case study of Mali. We build a panel dataset combining the Malian
censuses of 1998 and 2009 and electoral results at the locality level for the municipal
elections of 1998/1999 and 2009. Using fixed effects estimations, we find a positive impact of
the stock of returnees from non-African countries on participation rates, confirmed by various
robustness checks, and we find evidence of a diffusion effect from those returnees to nonmigrants.
We also put forward a substitution effect between the presence of returnees from
both African and non-African countries and the level of education of the non-migrants: the
transfer of electoral norms by returnees is stronger when non-migrants are poorly educated.
Finally, we find a strong positive impact of migrants coming back from non-African countries
on three indicators of electoral competitiveness.