El seguro para los subcampeones electorales de la Alianza en 2009

Abstract

In Chile, the difficulty of winning both district seats under the binominal electoral system has generated opposite motivations for office-seeking political parties, which want to maximize their seat share, and individual candidates who want to win. Carey and Siavelis (2003) argue that the Concertacion rewarded good losers who contributed to its overall vote share. We apply that explanation to the 2009 election, when the right-wing Alianza coalition was ahead and, therefore, any future rewards would be most likely to be distributed among its good losers. Our contribution clarifies doubts about the causes of strong legislative tickets at the district level in the coalition that would most likely win. In showing that the Alianza had stronger tickets in 2009 than in previous elections, we support the thesis of good losers’ insurance.