Impact of Institutionalization of Party Systems, Electoral Rules, and Economic Factors on Political Representation in Latin America

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which party system institutionalization, electoral rules, and national economic performance affect political representation in Latin America. Political representation is measured by the citizen-representative congruence in two issues: support for democracy and political ideology. The general assumption is that higher/lower levels of political representation correspond to higher/lower levels of institutionalization, less/more permissive electoral rules, and better/worse economic performance. Countries included in the study are México, Chile, Argentina, El Salvador, Bolivia, Honduras, Colombia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Paraguay, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Perú, Uruguay, and Panamá. According to the results, the citizen-representative congruence in support for democracy model was not significant. However, the same factors included in such model did have something to do with the citizen-representative correspondence in political ideology, although two variables, gender quota and ballot structure, were not statistically significant.

Keywords: political representation, party system institutionalization, electoral rules