Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-vsgnj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-24T15:25:13.688Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Too Much Democracy? Primaries and Candidate Success in the 2006 Mexican National Elections

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Kathleen Bruhn
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstracts

Do primaries help political parties perform better in general elections, or do they undermine electoral performance by contributing to internal divisions and to the weakening of party organizations? This article examines the effect of holding a primary on the general election prospects of candidates, using cases from two of the three major parties in Mexico's 2006 national legislative elections. In both parties, primaries fail to systematically produce candidates with advantages in the general election, due largely to organizational deficits of the parties and low entry requirements for aspiring precandidates. Indeed, outside urban centers, where parties tend to be better organized, primaries actually seem to hurt party performance in subsequent general elections.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 52 , Issue 4 , Winter 2010 , pp. 25 - 52
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abramowitz, Alan I. 1989. Viability, Electability, and Candidate Choice in a Presidential Primary Election: a Test of Competing Models. Journal of Politics 51, 4: 977–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adams, James, and Merrill, Samuel. 2008. Candidates and Parties in Two-Stage Elections Beginning with a Primary. American Journal of Political Science 52, 2: 344–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alcántara Sáez, Manuel. 2002. Experimentos de democracia interna: las primarias de partidos en América Latina. Kellogg Working Paper 293. University of Notre Dame: Kellogg Institute. http://kellogg.nd.edu/publications/workingpapers/WPS/293.pdf. Accessed May 2009.Google Scholar
Altman, David, and Chasquetti, Daniel. 2005. Re-election and Political Career Paths in the Uruguayan Congress, 1985–99. Journal of Legislative Studies 11, 2: 235–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barreda, Mikel. 2004. La democracia interna de los partidos: un desafío del desarrollo en América Latina. Gobernanza: Revista Internacional para el Desarrollo Humano, December 30. http://www.iigov.org/gbz/article.drt?edi=14282&art=14303. Accessed February 2008.Google Scholar
Bartels, Larry. 1988. Presidential Primaries and the Dynamics of Public Choice. Princeton : Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyd, Richard W. 1989. The Effects of Primaries and Statewide Races on Voter Turnout. Journal of Politics 51, 3: 730–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brady, David, and Schwartz, Edward P.. 1995. Ideology and Interests in Voting: the Politics of Abortion in the U.S. Senate. Public Choice 84, 1–2: 25–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bruhn, Kathleen. 1997. Taking on Goliath: The Emergence of a New Left Party and the Struggle for Democracy in Mexico. University Park : Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Bruhn, Kathleen, and Greene, Kenneth F.. 2006. Mexican 2006 Candidate and Party Leader Survey. Conducted June 2006. Available from the principal investigators.Google Scholar
Buell, Emmett H. Jr. 1986. Divisive Primaries and Participation in Fall Presidential Campaigns: a Study of 1984 New Hampshire Primary Activists. American Politics Quarterly 14, 4: 376–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carey, John M., and Polga-Hecimovich, John. 2006. Primary Elections and Candidate Strength in Latin America. Journal of Politics 68, 3: 530–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colomer, Josep M. 2002. Las elecciones primarias presidenciales en América Latina. In El asedio a la política: los partidos latinoamericanos en la era neoliberal, ed. Cavarozzi, Marcelo and Abal Medina, Juan. Rosario , Argentina : Homo Sapiens Ediciones. 117–34.Google Scholar
Crotty, William, and Jackson, John S.. 1985. Presidential Primaries and Nominations. Washington , DC : Congressional Quarterly.Google Scholar
Domínguez, Jorge I., and McCann, James A.. 1996. Democratizing Mexico: Public Opinion and Electoral Choices. Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Field, Bonnie N., and Siavelis, Peter M.. 2008. Candidate Selection Procedures in Transitional Politics: a Research Note. Party Politics 14, 5: 620–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geer, John G. 1988. Assessing the Representativeness of Electorates in Presidential Primaries. American Journal of Political Science 32, 4: 929–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerber, Elisabeth, and Morton, Rebecca. 1998. Primary Election Systems and Representation. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 14, 2: 304–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grafstein, Robert. 2003. Strategic Voting in Presidential Primaries: Problems of Explanation and Interpretation. Political Research Quarterly 56, 4: 513–19.Google Scholar
Huerta, Violeta. 2005a. Elegirá hoy el Prd a 95 candidatos para alcaldes. El Sol de Toluca, December 10: 6A.Google Scholar
Huerta, Violeta. 2005b. Participaron cerca de 400 mil perredistas en su elección interna. El Sol de Toluca, December 13: 11A.Google Scholar
Kemahlioglu, Ozge, Weitz-Shapiro, Rebecca, and Hirano, Shigeo. 2009. Why Primaries in Latin American Presidential Elections Journal of Politics 71, 1: 339–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kenney, Patrick J., and Rice, Thomas W.. 1987. The Relationship between Divisive Primaries and General Election Outcomes. American Journal of Political Science 31, 1: 31–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lengle, James I. 1980. Divisive Presidential Primaries and Party Electoral Prospects, 1932–1976. American Politics Quarterly 8, 3: 261–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lengle, James I., Owen, Diana, and Sonner, Molly W.. 1995. Divisive Nominating Mechanisms and Democratic Party Electoral Prospects. Journal of Politics 57, 2: 370–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCann, James A. 1995. Nomination Politics and Ideological Polarization: Assessing the Attitudinal Effects of Campaign Involvement. Journal of Politics 57, 1: 101–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCann, James A., Partin, Randall W., Rapoport, Ronald B., and Stone, Walter J.. 2001. Presidential Nomination Campaigns and Party Mobilization: an Assessment of Spillover Effects. American Journal of Political Science 40, 3: 756–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mainwaring, Scott, and Scully, Timothy R., eds. 1995. Building Democratic Institutions: Party Systems in Latin America. Stanford : Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Miller, Penny M., Jewell, Malcolm, and Sigelman, Lee. 1988. Divisive Primaries and Party Activists: Kentucky, 1979 and 1983. Journal of Politics 50, 2: 459–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norrander, Barbara. 1986. Selective Participation: Presidential Primary Voters as a Subset of General Election Voters. American Politics Quarterly 14, 1–2: 35–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norrander, Barbara. 1996. Presidential Nomination Politics in the Post-Reform Era. Political Research Quarterly 49, 4: 875–915.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD). 1990. Documentos básicos. Mexico City : PRD.Google Scholar
Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD). 2005a. Meeting of the Vi Consejo Nacional, November 5–6. Minutes. Gaceta 1, 3 (November).Google Scholar
Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD). 2005b. Meeting of the Vi Consejo Nacional, November 5–6. Minutes. Gaceta (Mexico City) 1, 4 (December): 58.Google Scholar
Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD). 2005c. Remarks attributed to Cuauhtémoc Sandoval. Gaceta 1, 4 (December): 50.Google Scholar
Piereson, James E., and Smith, Terry B.. 1975. Primary Divisiveness and General Election Success: a Re-examination. Journal of Politics 37, 2: 555–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rahat, Gideon. 2007. Candidate Selection: the Choice before the Choice. Journal of Democracy 18, 1: 157–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rahat, Gideon. 2009. Which Candidate Selection Method Is the Most Democratic Government and Opposition 44, 1: 68–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rahat, Gideon, and Hazan, Reuven Y.. 2001. Candidate Selection Methods: an Analytical Framework. Party Politics 7, 3: 297–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rahat, Gideon, Hazan, Reuven Y., and Katz, Richard S.. 2008. Democracy and Political Parties: on the Uneasy Relationships between Participation, Competition and Representation. Party Politics 14, 6: 663–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Romero, Gabriela, Bolaños, Angel, and González, Rocío. 2006. Entre guerra de acusaciones, hoy la elección del Prd-Df. La Jornada (Mexico City), January 22. http://www.jornada.unam.mx. Accessed June 2008.Google Scholar
Romero Sánchez, Gabriela. 2005. Negocian grupos del Prd candidaturas a diputados locales y jefes delegacionales. La Jornada, December 18. http://www.jornada.unam.mx. Accessed June 2008.Google Scholar
Stone, Walter J. 1986. The Carryover Effect in Presidential Elections. American Political Science Review 80, 1: 271–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stone, Walter J., Rae Atkeson, Lonna, and Rapoport, Ronald B.. 1992. Turning on or Turning off? Mobilization and Demobilization Effects of Participation in Presidential Nomination Campaigns. American Journal of Political Science 36, 3: 665–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sullivan, Denis G. 1977. Party Unity: Appearance and Reality. Political Science Quarterly 92, 4 (1977–78): 635–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wuhs, Steven T. 2006. Democratization and the Dynamics of Candidate Selection Rule Change in Mexico, 1991–2003. Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos 22: 33–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wuhs, Steven T. 2008. Savage Democracy: Institutional Change and Party Development in Mexico. University Park : Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar