Competition, Decentralization, and Candidate Selection in Mexico

Abstract

This article examines how political context affects the strategic choice of nomination rules, using data from federal and state-level legislative elections. Our analysis indicates that competition affects the selection rules parties adopt. Overall, parties are most likely to use open selection rules when they think they will win, largely due to the effects of activist competition over coveted nominations. However, state-level party leaders have not been consistently empowered by decentralization. Although state-level party leaders do have nonnegligible influence when it comes to the selection of local legislative nominees, they have more influence in those states that are the most dependent on the federal government for resources. Competitive context continues to be a stronger predictor of selection rule choice than decentralization.

Legislative Candidate Selection and Incumbent Renomination in Mexico

“…Over the past 10 to 15 years, candidate selection in all of Mexico's major parties has transitioned from somewhat open and decentralized to almost completely closed and centralized to the national or state levels. As was the case globally, in the late 1990s and into the 2000s, parties in Mexico tended to use decentralized candidate selection methods (Bruhn 2013;Bruhn and Wuhs 2016). After 2010, however, this move toward internal democracy reversed, as shown in Table 1.1 and 1.2, below.…”

Electoral Accountability and Particularistic Legislation: Evidence from an Electoral Reform in Mexico

“…11 Research on the candidate-selection process in Mexico has consistently pointed out that parties hold centralized control over candidate selection rules (Kerevel 2013;Langston 2006;Wuhs 2006). Before the reelection ban was lifted, all nominations were party-based (Bruhn and Wuhs 2016). Because the constitution also barred independent candidacies, 12 candidates had to run with one of the political parties officially registered at the state's electoral institute.…”

Poder e influencia en contextos de prohibición de reelección consecutiva: el caso de la Cámara de Diputados de México

“…La nominación de candidatos que contienden recae principalmente en los liderazgos partidistas, aunque esta selección no está libre de restricciones en las diferentes elecciones. Los gobernadores y otros importantes agentes políticos locales también influyen en el proceso de nominación (Bruhn y Wuhs 2016). Por su parte, la prohibición de la reelección inmediata evita que los votantes puedan recompensar con su voto a quienes buscan la incumbencia.…”