Determinants of party and mayor reelection in local governments: An empirical examination for Argentina during 1983-2011

• Main Authors: Sebastián Freille, Víctor Mazzalay
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad Nacional de Córdoba 2018-07-01
• Series: Revista de Economía y Estadística
• Subjects: Reelection; Transfers; Fiscal Policy; Local Governments
• Online Access: https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/REyE/article/view/29388

This paper examines the determinants of reelection of parties and mayors in Argentine local elections during the 1983-2011 period. Using a unique and comprehensive database recording local elecion results for over 1200 local governments, we test three potential sources of variation: structural factors, polítical/institutional variables and economic variables. We find that incumbency advantage is strongly and significantly related with a higher probability of reelection. We also find some evidence supporting the economic voting hypothesis, that local economic conditions are relevant for explaining re-election of local governments. We also find that local governments where parties and mayors have been in office for a long time have greater re-election chances. Finally, we find that governments with municipal charters have lower probability of reelection. Summing up, there seems to be both economic and politico-institucional factors behind re-election rates of parties and mayors in Argentine local governments.