John Tuttle
Movember 2, 2012
PL SCI 150
Blog 7
Duverger’s
Law postulates that that the electoral rules of a nation will affect the number
of parties effectively participating in its political sphere. That is to say, a nation following the
principles of a Single-Member-District-Party (SMDP) will have only two
principle parties. Nations using Proportional Representation (PR) are likely to
have a variety of smaller parties based on local ideological differences.
Election results in La Republica Oriental del Uruguay seem to support this
claim. Using evidence from the 2009 election of Uruguay’s lower house, the Cámara de Diputados, one can conclude
that the PR system has produced several viable parties, however only two of
them are consistently successful in elections.
Electoral rules in Uruguay are
similar to many of the rules present in other South American Democracies. The
Chamber of Deputies (the lower house) has 99 seats, in which representatives
serve for non-consecutive five-year terms. The entire country is one district,
however there are “nineteen multi-member
constituencies” corresponding to each of the country's nineteen departments (or
provinces).[1]
Each department elects two representatives to send to the Chamber of Deputies. Ballots
follow a closed, non-preferential style, causing voters to choose candidates
from just one party. “Under the double simultaneous vote (DSV), the voter must
vote for one of the lists fielded by the same party she has chosen in a
Presidential contest.”[2]
Uruguay does not have a hybrid system; candidates are elected using only a one-tier
list PR system.[3]
Uruguay, when compared to other
South American countries, is a relatively small state. With just over 3,000,000
inhabitants, one can imagine that there are few things that divide them. This
is not case. Because of the PR system, as many as 27 parties participate in
Uruguay’s electoral process.[4]
Uruguay has no minimum threshold for its parties[5],
however many of the parties form coalitions in order to have strength enough to
win. This explains the limited number parties in each election. In the last
parliamentary election, five parties posted candidates, however, following the
Effective Party Formula, only three of them display any level of effective
mobilization. The Frente Amplio, or Broad Front, is one of the strongest
coalitions in Uruguay. Made up of fourteen of the small parties from the far
left, the FA won 47%3 of the contested seats
in the Chamber of Deputies. Uruguay’s two other parties, the National Party and
the Colored Party have continued to lose popularity as many of their leaders
have been identified as participants in the military takeover of the country
during the 1970s. As the BF continues to gain strength, the National and
Colored parties are putting aside their differences in order to form a
coalition of their own.
Duverger’s Law holds true in
Uruguay, with one caveat. Although the Uruguayan version of the PR system has
created many parties that represent the many ideological values of the people,
the parties are coalescing into three (and at times two) parties in order to gain
strength over the others.
[1] Election
Guide: Uruguay, 06/19/2012, http://electionguide.org/country.php?ID=228
[2] URUGUAY ,
2 March 2012 , http://www.ipu.org/parline-e/reports/2341_A.htm
[3] Elections in Uruguay, 23 February 2011, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_Uruguay
[4] List of political parties in Uruguay, 30 October 2012, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_Uruguay
[5] Political
Database of the Americas, 1995-2007 Georgetown,
http://pdba.georgetown.edu/ElecSys/Uruguay/uruguay.html
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