PARTICIPACIÓN ELECTORAL EN LAS ELECCIONES PRIMARIAS EN URUGUAY

Abstract

So far Uruguay is the only country in the world in which parties carried out open and simultaneous primary elections in order to select their presidential candidates. The effects of employing primaries on the election results are determined by the particular characteristics of the electorate who voluntarily participate in them. From survey data, we analyze the factors affecting participation in such instances and their effects on the type of presidential candidates tend to be elected. The results show that in primary elections vote citizens more educated, more interested in politics, identified with political parties and with more extreme ideological positions. As a result we observe that through primaries, candidates away from the median voter are more likely to be winners than with DSV system.