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Authoritarian Regimes and Their Permitted Oppositions: Election Day Outcomes in Cuba

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Jorge I. Domínguez ,
Ángela Fonseca Galvis  and
Chiara Superti
Jorge I. Domínguez
Affiliation:
Harvard University. [email protected]
Ángela Fonseca Galvis
Affiliation:
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. [email protected]
Chiara Superti
Affiliation:
Columbia University. [email protected]
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Abstract

Electoral opposition to long-established authoritarian regimes may be loyal or rejectionist. Loyal oppositionists vote to send a selective signal to rulers; rejectionist oppositionists vote blank or void the ballot in full disapproval. In Cuba, the number of candidates equals the number of seats, yet voters may vote blank, void, or selectively (choosing some but not all candidates on the ballot), although the Communist Party has campaigned for all candidates. This article uses a unique dataset for Cuba's 2013 National Assembly elections to study aggregate opposition outcomes. It shows the emergence of a loyal opposition, which sometimes votes for and sometimes against Communist Party candidates. The rejectionist opposition, stable over time, never votes for Communist Party candidates; it is found where the Communist Party behaves monopolistically. This combined opposition has better national-level political information; it comes from more educated or larger urban areas or areas closer to Havana.

Type
Research
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 59 , Issue 2 , Summer 2017 , pp. 27 - 52
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 2017

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