Electoral Systems in Latin America: Explaining the Adoption of Proportional Representation Systems During the Twentieth Century

Abstract

This article explains the twentieth‐century Latin American shift from majoritarian to proportional representation (PR) electoral systems. It argues that PR was introduced when the electoral arena changed significantly and threatened the power of the dominant party. The adoption of PR was therefore an effort by the established party to retain partial power in the face of absolute defeat. Majoritarian systems remained in place when the incumbent party was strong enough to believe that it could gain a plurality of the votes despite electoral changes. An empirical analysis of 20 countries over 104 years (1900–2004) provides support for this argument.

Party Institutionalization and the Removal of Presidential Term Limits in Latin America

“…Considering and distinguishing different party types within the principal-agent theoretical framework may be a fruitful way of considering also other political outcomes where delegation is involved. The argument has important implications for the literature that views Latin American constitutional change in general and electoral rule change in particular as endogenous products of interparty competition (Negretto, 2006;Remmer, 2008;Wills-Otero, 2009). By emphasizing the role of intraparty politics instead, it may be possible to focus on the more proximate factors behind the constitutional reforms in Latin America.…”

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“…Boix (1999), Benoit (2004, 2007, and Wills-Otero (2009) all explain that the adoption of new electoral systems are dictated by circumstances but predicated on the assumption that political parties seek to maximize representation. Boix argues that the choice of electoral system is a strategic calculation made by the dominant party or parties, conditional upon their ideological position and strength.…”

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