La región lleva celebrando elecciones competitivas en los últimos años. Pero, ¿se han celebrado todas las contiendas con la misma integridad electoral? Si ha habido problemas, ¿cuáles son? ¿Hay problemas comunes a la región o son...
moreLa región lleva celebrando elecciones competitivas en los últimos años. Pero, ¿se han celebrado todas las contiendas con la misma integridad electoral? Si ha habido problemas, ¿cuáles son? ¿Hay problemas comunes a la región o son parecidos a los del resto del mundo? ¿Se observa algún patrón en las elecciones? ¿Cómo lo sabemos? ¿Bajo qué enfoque metodológico podemos responder estas preguntas? En este artículo, presentamos los resultados de la primera encuesta de expertos sobre percepciones de integridad electoral a escala global, pero con atención especial a América.
Este libro no trata (solo) de Aragon. Su titulo alude a la fascinante idiosincrasia de Aragon en el panorama nacional: en todas las elecciones hasta la fecha, quien gana Aragon, gana Espana (igual que ocurre en los Estados Unidos con...
moreEste libro no trata (solo) de Aragon. Su titulo alude a la fascinante idiosincrasia de Aragon en el panorama nacional: en todas las elecciones hasta la fecha, quien gana Aragon, gana Espana (igual que ocurre en los Estados Unidos con Ohio). Estamos en un momento politico apasionante, en mitad de un cataclismo electoral que esta poniendo patas arriba el sistema de partidos que se consolido durante la Transicion; pero para valorar este cambio resulta imprescindible contar con un buen analisis de las caracteristicas de los votantes de nuestro pais. Sin embargo, la mayor parte de la informacion que recibimos con respecto a esta cuestion llega cargada de mitos, sesgada o demasiado orientada a polemizar con respecto a la actual ley electoral.
The maintenance of democracy requires the balancing of various demands, among them economic liberty and democracy. Here, Ferran Martinez i Coma shares research which looks at the way these two demands interplay in campaign finance, with...
moreThe maintenance of democracy requires the balancing of various demands, among them economic liberty and democracy. Here, Ferran Martinez i Coma shares research which looks at the way these two demands interplay in campaign finance, with the Electoral Integrity Project producing research which shows the extent to which this and related issues affect citizen confidence in democratic systems worldwide.
... SA Parque Industrial «Las Monjas» 28850 Torrejón de Ardoz (Madrid) Page 9. ... Mis compañeros de promoción (y otras) Ignacio Lago, Sandra León, Rubén Ruiz, Leire Salazar, Andrés Santana, Dulce Manzano y Susana Aguilar han sido...
more... SA Parque Industrial «Las Monjas» 28850 Torrejón de Ardoz (Madrid) Page 9. ... Mis compañeros de promoción (y otras) Ignacio Lago, Sandra León, Rubén Ruiz, Leire Salazar, Andrés Santana, Dulce Manzano y Susana Aguilar han sido pacientes interlocutores. ...
The conditions under which losers are willing to challenge the results of elections remain an open question. Using data from the Electoral Integrity Project for 66 democratic and non-democratic countries in 2012 and 2013, we measure how...
moreThe conditions under which losers are willing to challenge the results of elections remain an open question. Using data from the Electoral Integrity Project for 66 democratic and non-democratic countries in 2012 and 2013, we measure how parties or candidates react once votes have been cast and one of them is declared the winner. Do they accept or challenge the results? This measure allows us to examine the causal mechanisms that account for the self-enforcing nature of democracies. Our findings show that losers’ consent increases with free and fair elections and in more economically developed countries, while income inequality is not relevant. Additionally, the impact of free and fair elections is particularly important in more economically developed countries.
Gerrymandering, the practice of redrawing electoral boundaries in order to benefit one or more electoral actor, has a long and infamous history. Here, Ferran Martinez i Coma and Ignacio Lago look at the under-explored area of...
moreGerrymandering, the practice of redrawing electoral boundaries in order to benefit one or more electoral actor, has a long and infamous history. Here, Ferran Martinez i Coma and Ignacio Lago look at the under-explored area of gerrymandering in a comparative perspective and what link there is between its prevelence and the electoral system in use, finding it more likely to take place in majoritarian systems such as First Past the Post – the system used in UK General Elections.
The Australian House of Representatives contains far fewer women than men. But is this because parties of left and right discriminate against women or because voters do? Using a new dataset comprising 7271 House candidates from 2001 to...
moreThe Australian House of Representatives contains far fewer women than men. But is this because parties of left and right discriminate against women or because voters do? Using a new dataset comprising 7271 House candidates from 2001 to 2019, firstly, we find that the percentage of women candidates is increasing, but is consistently higher for parties of the left than the right. Secondly, women tend to be selected more by parties of both left and right in unsafe seats. Thirdly, all else being equal, voters reward women running for Labor with over 1400 votes more, are neutral towards those of the Liberals and Greens, but tend to penalise women standing for the Nationals. We conclude that, overall, it is parties, not voters, driving under-representation of women in Australia’s lower house.
Which countries hold the fairest elections? The Perceptions of Electoral Integrity dataset analysed every election held so far in 2016 and ranked countries in order of electoral integrity. Ferran Martinez i Coma introduces the findings...
moreWhich countries hold the fairest elections? The Perceptions of Electoral Integrity dataset analysed every election held so far in 2016 and ranked countries in order of electoral integrity. Ferran Martinez i Coma introduces the findings and identifies some important trends – notably a move away from ballot-stuffing and towards abuses of campaign finance and media manipulation. For the first time, the questionnaire introduced questions about bribery, patronage and the fear of political violence.
Why do parties and candidates decide to go negative? Research usually starts from the assumption that this decision is strategic, and within this framework two elements stand out: the prospect of electoral failure increases the use of...
moreWhy do parties and candidates decide to go negative? Research usually starts from the assumption that this decision is strategic, and within this framework two elements stand out: the prospect of electoral failure increases the use of negative campaigning, and so does time pressure (little reaming time to convince voters before election day). In this article, we contribute to this framework by testing two new expectations: (i) political actors are more likely to go negative when they face unfavourable competitive standings and voting day is near; and (ii) they are less likely to go negative when they faced a substantive degradation in their competitive standing over the course of the campaign. We test these expectations on a rich database of newspaper ads about national referenda in Switzerland and provide preliminary empirical evidence consistent with those expectations. The results have important implications for existing research on the strategic underpinnings of campaigning and ...
Using data from the Electoral Integrity Project, we measure the level of gerrymandering according to country expert surveys in Lower House elections in 54 democracies from the second half of 2012 until the first half of 2015. We show that...
moreUsing data from the Electoral Integrity Project, we measure the level of gerrymandering according to country expert surveys in Lower House elections in 54 democracies from the second half of 2012 until the first half of 2015. We show that majoritarian systems are more prone to gerrymandering than mixed-member and above all in Proportional Representation (PR) systems. When majoritarian systems are employed in large countries, gerrymandering is exacerbated. Per capita GDP and the age of electoral systems do not significantly affect gerrymandering.
Does electoral integrity affect turnout? And if so, how? We look at some election dynamics that are closely related to electoral integrity – the actions of the government, the opposition and the context in which the election is held – and...
moreDoes electoral integrity affect turnout? And if so, how? We look at some election dynamics that are closely related to electoral integrity – the actions of the government, the opposition and the context in which the election is held – and found significant impact of these dynamics on turnout. We tested our claims using data for 910 elections covering 91 democracies for the 1961-2008 period. Our results reveal that both boycott and election-related violence decrease turnout, the effect of the former being substantially higher. We also find that, contrary to what could be initially expected, governments’ harassing of the opposition actually increases turnout.
What explains election turnout in authoritarian regimes? Despite the significant energy, resources, and time ruling parties devote to improving the participation rates of citizens, there exists extraordinary variation both within and...
moreWhat explains election turnout in authoritarian regimes? Despite the significant energy, resources, and time ruling parties devote to improving the participation rates of citizens, there exists extraordinary variation both within and across authoritarian regimes. This paper hypothesizes that election turnout is explained by contes-tation, coercion and clientelism. To test this theory, the paper uses an original dataset capturing turnout rates for 548 legislative elections in 108 countries between 1960 and 2011. The resulting empirical analysis confirms these Hypothesis-with one notable exception. Instead of encouraging turnout amongst citizens, clientelism discourages it. This counterintuitive finding occurs because citizens lack the optimum incentives for participation and ruling parties lack effective monitoring strategies of that behavior. The conclusion of the paper addresses its implications for existing theories of authoritarian politics and proposes several avenues for furthe...
Many contentious elections end in disputes about alleged fraud, irregularities, and malpractices. How do we know when these claims are valid and when they are false complaints from sore losers? This article describes a new dataset...
moreMany contentious elections end in disputes about alleged fraud, irregularities, and malpractices. How do we know when these claims are valid and when they are false complaints from sore losers? This article describes a new dataset developed by the Electoral Integrity Project. Based on a survey of election experts, the research provides new evidence to compare how national contests around the world are meeting international standards of electoral integrity. The questionnaire includes 49 key indicators clustered into 11 stages of the electoral cycle, as well as generating an overall summary Perception of Electoral Integrity (PEI) 100-point index. The evidence displays high levels of external validity, internal validity, and legitimacy. The PEI datasets allow researchers to gauge the perceived quality of elections worldwide. This study summarizes the PEI’s research design, compares the quality of elections around the globe, and illustrates how electoral integrity is linked with both de...
Many malpractices generate flawed elections which fail to meet international standards of electoral integrity, including issues such as fraud, malpractice, vote-rigging, ballot-stuffing, and voter suppression. Determining when, where, and...
moreMany malpractices generate flawed elections which fail to meet international standards of electoral integrity, including issues such as fraud, malpractice, vote-rigging, ballot-stuffing, and voter suppression. Determining when, where, and why elections succeed or fail is a matter of growing concern for the international community—yet to date scholars and practitioners have been hindered by lack of reliable, credible, and consistent evidence which could be used to compare the quality of elections around the world. This paper presents the first results of a new pilot study, based on an expert survey of Perceptions of Electoral Integrity (PEI) applied to 20 countries. This data facilitates comparison of an overall standardized 100-point PEI index for each contest, or the results can be examined in more fine-grained detail on eleven dimensions of electoral integrity, or for each of the separate 49 items. The PEI index demonstrates high levels of external validity, internal validity, and...
La globalización se ha convertido en un fenómeno que está condenado a una interminable controversia, blanco principal de pasiones siempre hostiles y en algunas ocasiones violentas protestas. ¿Quiénes y por qué temen a la globalización?
In many countries, polling day ends with disputes about ballot-box fraud, corruption, and flawed registers. Which claims are legitimate? And which are false complaints from sore losers? This report by the Electoral Integrity Project,...
moreIn many countries, polling day ends with disputes about ballot-box fraud, corruption, and flawed registers. Which claims are legitimate? And which are false complaints from sore losers? This report by the Electoral Integrity Project, based at Harvard and the University of Sydney, evaluates the quality of elections held around the world. Based on a rolling survey collecting the views of 1,429 election experts, the research provides independent and reliable evidence to compare whether countries meet international standards of electoral integrity. The rolling survey results presented in this report cover 127 national parliamentary and presidential contests held worldwide in 107 countries from 1 July 2012 to 31 December 2014. The report found that the five best elections during 2014 were Lithuania, Costa Rica, Sweden, Slovenia and Uruguay. The five worst contests in 2014 were Egypt, Mozambique, Afghanistan, Bahrain and Syria. The 2014 US Congressional elections were rated as worst in co...
From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe the world has witnessed a rising tide of contentious elections ending in heated partisan debates, court challenges, street protests, and legitimacy challenges. In some cases, disputes have been settled...
moreFrom Afghanistan to Zimbabwe the world has witnessed a rising tide of contentious elections ending in heated partisan debates, court challenges, street protests, and legitimacy challenges. In some cases, disputes have been settled peacefully through legal appeals and electoral reforms. In the worst cases, however, disputes have triggered bloodshed or government downfalls and military coups. Contentious elections are characterized by major challenges, with different degrees of severity, to the legitimacy of electoral actors, procedures, or outcomes. Despite growing concern, until recently little research has studied this phenomenon. The theory unfolded in this volume suggests that problems of electoral malpractice erode confidence in electoral authorities, spur peaceful protests demonstrating against the outcome, and, in the most severe cases, lead to outbreaks of conflict and violence. Understanding this process is of vital concern for domestic reformers and the international commun...
El objetivo de este análisis es comprobar si en los países donde el sistema de seguridad social es más extenso hay un mayor apoyo a la globalización.
ABSTRACT Many contentious elections end in disputes about alleged fraud, irregularities, and malpractices. How do we know when these claims are valid and when they are false complaints from sore losers? This article describes a new...
moreABSTRACT Many contentious elections end in disputes about alleged fraud, irregularities, and malpractices. How do we know when these claims are valid and when they are false complaints from sore losers? This article describes a new dataset developed by the Electoral Integrity Project. Based on a survey of election experts, the research provides new evidence to compare how national contests around the world are meeting international standards of electoral integrity. The questionnaire includes 49 key indicators clustered into 11 stages of the electoral cycle, as well as generating an overall summary Perception of Electoral Integrity (PEI) 100-point index. The evidence displays high levels of external validity, internal validity, and legitimacy. The PEI datasets allow researchers to gauge the perceived quality of elections worldwide. This study summarizes the PEI’s research design, compares the quality of elections around the globe, and illustrates how electoral integrity is linked with both democracy and development.