An Inquiry into the Use of Illegal Electoral Practices and Effects of Political Violence

Roxana Gutiérrez-Romero

Working Papers from Department of Applied Economics at Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona

Abstract: This article investigates whether vote-buying and the instigation of violence in the disputed 2007 Kenyan elections were strategically motivated, and whether those affected by electoral violence changed their views towards ethno-politics and the use of violence. To answer these questions, a panel survey conducted before and after the elections is combined with external indicators of electoral violence. We find that political parties targeted vote-buying towards specific groups to weaken the support of their political rivals and to mobilize their own supporters. Furthermore, parties instigated violence strategically in areas where they were less likely to win. Although the victims of violence would prefer that parties are no longer allowed to organize in ethnic or religious lines, they are more likely to identify in ethnic terms, support the use of violence and avoid relying on the police to resolve disputes. The overall findings suggest an increased risk of electoral-violence reoccurring.

Keywords: Political competition; electoral violence; vote-buying; election fraud; ethnic identity; Kenya (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2012-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr and nep-pol
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://ddd.uab.cat/repec/doc/wpdea1210.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: An Inquiry into the Use of Illegal Electoral Practices and Effects of Political Violence (2012)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uab:wprdea:wpdea1210

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Department of Applied Economics at Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Dept. Economia Aplicada ().