Non-Median and Condorcet-loser Presidents in Latin America: an instability factor

• Autor: Colomer, Josep M.
• Formato: artículo
• Fecha de Publicación: 2014
• Institución: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
• Repositorio: Revistas - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
• Lenguaje: español
• OAI Identifier: oai:revistaspuc:article/13878
• Enlace del recurso: http://revistas.pucp.edu.pe/index.php/politai/article/view/13878
• Nivel de acceso: acceso abierto
• Materia: Plurality rule; Majority runoff; Condorcet-winner; Condorcet-loser; Median voter; Regla de pluralidad; Mayoría con segunda vuelta; Ganador de Condorcet; Perdedor de Condorcet; Votante mediano

A favorable condition for good governance is that elected presidents obtain the support of both the median voter and the median legislator. Several electoral rules are evaluated for their results in 111 presidential and 137 congressional elections in 18 Latin American countries during the current democratic periods. The frequency of median voter’s or Condorcet-winner presidents appears to be higher under rules with a second-round runoff than under simple plurality rule. The victory of Condorcet-loser or the most rejected candidate is discarded under majority runoff rule. More than half of democratic presidents have not belonged to the median voter’s party in the presidential or the congressional elections. Many of them have faced wide popular and political opposition and entered into inter-institutional conflict.