Abstract

LOVE, Gregory. Running and Winning: Candidate Quality in Mexico's 2006 Legislative Elections. Polít. gob [online]. 2009, vol.16, n.spe2, pp.77-100. ISSN 1665-2037.

The article argues that in the 2006 Federal Chamber of Deputies election, individual candidate traits and experience affected electoral outcomes. Analyses were conducted using a unique dataset of biographical information for 171 candidates in 57 randomly drawn districts. The findings demonstrate that candidates mattered in the recent federal legislative elections. Additionally, they show that the common definition of "high quality" candidates (previous office holders) is insufficient in the Mexican case. The second part of the article analyzes how differing types of candidates were nominated by each party/pact, and examines how the types of nominated candidates can be partially predicted based on the party's nominating rules and their pool of members with previous local electoral success.

Keywords : candidates; 2006; elections; PAN; PRI; PRD; Chamber of Deputies; candidate quality; nominations; reelection; political biography.