Do Spanish politicians keep their promises?

Abstract

In this article we analyse the fulfilment of economic pledges contained in the electoral manifestoes of the two main Spanish parties, PP and PSOE during the four electoral cycles that took place between 1989 and 2004. Consistent with previous research on programme fulfilment, we find that most promises are fulfilled by the party in government. In addition we find much lower fulfilment rates for the parties in opposition. Surprisingly, we find no significant differences in fulfilment when the governing party enjoys absolute majority compared to minority governments. This is unexpected because coalition and minority governments constrain the capacity of the winning parties compared to absolute majority governments.