Jose R. Argueta

The Dynamics of Electoral Accountability in Two-partysystems: the Case of Honduras Jose R. Argueta

It has been argued that strong national parties, withsomewhat deep roots in the society, are necessary forelectoral accountability. In such settings, citizenswith varying combinations of societal characteristicswould be better able to identify which partyrepresents their cleavage-generated interests andvote for them, or vote them out of office if theyfail their mandate. However, cleavage-based partisans are much morelikely to develop a strong, affective attachment totheir party. Because of that, they would also be moreinclined to vote for the same party election afterelection. For electoral accountability to occur, aconsiderable segment of the electorate must becomposed of independents and moderate partisans,without any strong, affective attachment to a party. This research found that the mechanisms throughwhich electoral accountability came about were mainlyindependents voting for different parties insubsequent elections and moderate partisansabstaining from voting for their party. Thus, votingabstention may not necessarily be an undesirablevoting behavior, nor should independents beoverlooked, since they might actually decide thewinners of elections.