Abstract

SURA-FONSECA, Rebeca. The Link between Poverty and Inequality with Citizen Electoral Participation: The Presidential Elections of 2006 and 2014 in Costa Rica. Rev. mex. cienc. polít. soc [online]. 2019, vol.64, n.235, pp.189-220. ISSN 0185-1918.  https://doi.org/10.22201/fcpys.2448492xe.2019.235.62713.

Various research traditions have posited the hypothesis that poverty and inequality have a negative impact on democracy. However, there is not much empirical evidence to back it up for Costa Rica. Given that voting in electoral processes is a legitimating element of democratic systems, to test this hypothesis this paper analyzes the relationship between poverty and citizen participation in elections, using a novel methodology for testing this link. The paper employs the percentages of citizen participation in Costa Rica’s 2006 and 2014 presidential elections as the dependent variable in a mixed three-level longitudinal regression model, which allows for analysis of the evolution of electoral preferences over time and the way this relates with poverty variables with different levels of spatial aggregation.

Keywords : poverty; inequality; participation; elections; mixed longitudinal models; Costa Rica.