Journal Articles

Electoral Governance Matters: Explaining the Quality of Elections in Contemporary Latin America

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This article provides a systematic cross-national analysis of the role of electoral administration in explaining
acceptable democratic presidential elections in 19 countries in Latin America since the year 1980 or the first pivotal, transitional election. The authors provide two alternative measures of election administration, one focused on the degree of partisanship or professional independence and another on formal—legal institutional independence, as well as on other key factors, to test partial proportional odds-ordered logit models predicting the probability of an acceptable, flawed, or failed electoral process. The results show an important positive role for professional, independent electoral commissions on electoral outcomes in Latin America, controlling for other socioeconomic and political factors; formal-legal independence matters when the rules of the game are likely to be respected. In addition, low-quality elections are found disproportionately where incumbents seek reelection and where victory margins are extremely wide rather than narrow.

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Detail Information

Series Title

Comparative Political Studies

Call Number

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Publisher

California : Sage Publications., 2008

Collation

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Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

0010-4140

Classification

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Content Type

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Media Type

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Carrier Type

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Edition

Vol. 41. No. 1, January 2008. Page 73-98

Subject(s)

Democratization
Latin America
Election administration
Electoral governance
Electoral Governance Matters

Specific Detail Info

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Statement of Responsibility

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