Inter-American Development Bank
facebook
twitter
youtube
linkedin
instagram
Abierto al públicoBeyond BordersCaribbean Development TrendsCiudades SosteniblesEnergía para el FuturoEnfoque EducaciónFactor TrabajoGente SaludableGestión fiscalGobernarteIdeas MatterIdeas que CuentanIdeaçãoImpactoIndustrias CreativasLa Maleta AbiertaMoviliblogMás Allá de las FronterasNegocios SosteniblesPrimeros PasosPuntos sobre la iSeguridad CiudadanaSostenibilidadVolvamos a la fuente¿Y si hablamos de igualdad?Home
Citizen Security and Justice Creative Industries Development Effectiveness Early Childhood Development Education Energy Envirnment. Climate Change and Safeguards Fiscal policy and management Gender and Diversity Health Labor and pensions Open Knowledge Public management Science, Technology and Innovation  Trade and Regional Integration Urban Development and Housing Water and Sanitation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Ideas Matter

  • HOME
  • CATEGORIES
    • Behavioral Economics
    • Environment and Climate Change
    • Macroeconomics and Finance
    • Microeconomics and Competitiveness
    • Politics and Institutions
    • Social Issues
  • Authors
  • Spanish

Why Do Politicians Buy Votes?

September 14, 2016 by Razvan Vlaicu Leave a Comment


Since the first exchange of a drachma for a vote in Athens more than two-and-a-half thousand years ago, politicians have practiced the well-honed, if crude, art of vote buying. Today their inducements range from liquor, gas and cash in the United States to cash, grain, and washing machines in large parts of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. Yet vote buying is not pervasive everywhere. As I discuss in a recent IDB study with Marek Hanusch and Philip Keefer, the corrupt practice emerges under particular conditions and thrives in circumstances that make it particularly hard to root out.

Consider what happens during a transition to democratic rule. The dictator dies or is overthrown, the junta falls and parties form and mobilize in expectation of an upcoming election. But these parties are novices. They have no record to run on, no credibility, and, in many cases, no ideology: nothing to help the voter distinguish one from another. Still competition is fierce. Fledgling politicians are desperate to get their parties into parliament first. That gives them the perks of government in terms of spending, patronage and media attention which will make it much easier to win elections in the future. What do these ambitious politicians from faceless parties do? They buy votes, as happened in numerous transitions during the so-called Third Wave of Democratization of the 1970s to the 1990s.

Of course, vote buying doesn’t only happen during democratic transitions. It happens everywhere that political parties fail to build a brand that convinces voters that their electoral promises can be trusted. Well after military rule came to an end in Brazil in 1985, for example, vote buying remained rampant because of the abundance of weak parties unable to deliver on a political platform. Brazilian legislators during the 1987-1990 term had been members of nearly 3 political parties on average. One-third of them, according to a study of the Brazilian electoral system, had changed parties since being elected in 1986. This lack of party loyalty meant that parties had virtually no significance in terms of ideology or long-term commitments. Since Brazilians couldn’t vote for a party that might deliver on important public issues like a fairer tax regime or a better education system, many of them chose to exchange their votes for cash, food and clothing instead.

As time progresses, vote buying may become entrenched. Citizens, especially the poorest and most marginalized, can come to see the disbursement of cash before elections as the one and only thing they get from an ineffectual government. They can come to depend on it. As a result a vicious circle emerges. Those who suffer most from corruption become paradoxically those least likely to oppose it and demand reform.

Solutions are hard to come by. The 2010-2014 World Values Survey, conducted by a global network of social scientists in nearly 100 countries, found that 51.8 percent of respondents believed that voters are “bribed” often or fairly often. Moreover, even if parties are better established vote buying can still flair up when elections are close.

Yet, an experience in Brazil after the previously-mentioned episodes of massive vote buying in the 1980s and 1990s, offers a ray of hope. In 1997, a religious NGO, backed by the Conference of Brazilian Bishops, and around 60 other civil society organizations, organized to launch a popular initiative against the illegal practice. Organizers collected more than one million signatures creating reform pressure that led to the passage of a 1999 law that dramatically tightened penalties. As described in a study of the law, these included the immediate removal through administrative sanction of politicians caught offering pre-electoral gifts. With strong backing from the judiciary, prosecutions were aggressive. Between 2000-2008, some 700 politicians were removed from office and vote buying, while still common in Brazil, has been significantly reduced from previous levels.

Similar initiatives may well help curb vote buying globally. Changes in political institutions and culture, which foment the building of programmatic parties with strong traditions and ideologies and a record of delivering on promises to voters, could do even more to end the illegalities that subvert the popular will.


Filed Under: Politics and Institutions Tagged With: #corruption, #elections.#politicalparties

Razvan Vlaicu

Razvan Vlaicu is a senior economist in the Research Department at the Inter-American Development Bank. His research interests are in public economics and political economics, with a focus on the role of governance and institutions in economic development. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from Northwestern University, taught economics at the University of Maryland, and held short-term positions at the Kellogg School of Management and the World Bank. His research has been published in journals such as the Review of Economic Studies, American Political Science Review, Journal of International Economics, and Journal of Public Economics.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Follow Us

Subscribe

Search

Related posts

  • Are Female Politicians More Honest than Male Politicians?
  • A Unique Database Charts Latin America’s Deepening Democracy
  • Reform and the Power of Party Platforms
  • Can Mandatory Voting Improve Democracy?
  • When Too Much Choice Distorts Electoral Results

About this blog

The blog of the IDB's Research Department shares ideas that matter on public policy and development in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Footer

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo
facebook
twitter
youtube
youtube
youtube

Blog posts written by Bank employees:

Copyright © Inter-American Development Bank ("IDB"). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons IGO 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives. (CC-IGO 3.0 BY-NC-ND) license and may be reproduced with attribution to the IDB and for any non-commercial purpose. No derivative work is allowed. Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC- IGO license. Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the license.


For blogs written by external parties:

For questions concerning copyright for authors that are not IADB employees please complete the contact form for this blog.

The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IDB, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent.

Attribution: in addition to giving attribution to the respective author and copyright owner, as appropriate, we would appreciate if you could include a link that remits back the IDB Blogs website.



Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo

Aviso Legal

Las opiniones expresadas en estos blogs son las de los autores y no necesariamente reflejan las opiniones del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, sus directivas, la Asamblea de Gobernadores o sus países miembros.

facebook
twitter
youtube
This site uses cookies to optimize functionality and give you the best possible experience. If you continue to navigate this website beyond this page, cookies will be placed on your browser.
To learn more about cookies, click here
X
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Non-necessary

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

SAVE & ACCEPT