The Evolution of Ethnic-Party Behavior

Abstract

Abstract Ethnic parties are not unitary actors, and this chapter shows that their behavior is constrained by the campaign strategies that their individual candidates adopt. By analyzing election results for over five thousand candidates and forty-five parties that have competed in four legislative elections in Ecuador—in 1998, 2002, 2006, and 2009—this chapter evaluates how ethnic parties and their candidates connect with their constituencies. Candidates affiliated with ethnic parties receive greater programmatic support, but only in earlier elections. This change is largely attributable to the behavior of individual ethnic-party candidates, and reflects the evolution of ethnic-party behavior in Ecuador. Building on the theory developed in chapter 2, the text explores why ethnic-party candidates form the linkages with voters that they do. As expected, ethnic-party candidates form more programmatic linkages in districts of higher magnitude, but struggle to form programmatic linkages when they are party leaders and incumbents, suggesting that they are instead connecting with voters on the basis of their personal characteristics.