Why Pre-Electoral Coalitions in Presidential Systems?

Abstract

Why do political parties join coalitions to support other parties’ presidential candidates if presidents, once elected, are not bound to their pre-electoral pledges? This article argues that policy agreements made publicly between coalition partners during the campaign help parties pursue policy goals. However, parties cannot use pre-electoral coalitions to secure access to patronage, pork and government benefits under the control of presidents because they cannot hold presidents accountable to these agreements. Quantitative analysis of Latin American electoral coalitions demonstrates that political parties are more likely to form presidential electoral coalitions as the ideological distance between them decreases. Yet presidential electoral coalitions tend not to include non-programmatic political parties, even though such office-oriented parties are unconstrained by ideological considerations.

The Formation of Cabinet Coalitions in Presidential Systems

“…More research is needed to understand the dynamics of pre-electoral coalition formation in presidential elections (Freudenreich 2013;Machado 2009;Kellam 2015). Pre-electoral negotiations are a very complicated undertaking and often take place behind closed doors.…”

The Formation of Electoral Alliances in the Republic of Armenia: A Case Study of the 2017 Parliamentary Elections

“…A number of authors researching the formation of electoral alliances state that alliances form among ideologically compatible parties (Allern and Aylott, 2009;Debus, 2009;Gandhi and Reuter, 2013;Golder, 2006;Greene and Haber, 2016;Ibenskas, 2015;Kellam, 2015;Machado, 2009;Wahman, 2011). Some add to this that alliances among ideologically similar parties are more likely if they have prior experience of cooperation (Debus, 2009;Gandhi and Reuter, 2013;Greene and Haber, 2016;Ibenskas, 2015).…”

“…Along with ideology, party platforms are also considered to be a factor that influences the formation of alliances. Distinguishing between policy-seeking and office-seeking parties, some authors (Ibenskas, 2015;Kellam, 2015;Spoon and West, 2015;Wahman, 2011) argue that parties that are policy-seeking, i.e. strive to win legislative seats in order to implement their programs, form alliances more often.…”

The Ethics of Political Alliance

“…It is influenced by the Westminster parliamentary model and its first-past-the-post (FPTP) principle, but the basic arguments have broader application. If tactical voting is found in non-FPTP systems (Riera 2016), similar questions of alliance formation are likely to arise; presidential systems can also be the site of alliances (Kellam 2017).…”