Recall elections: A tool of accountability? evidence from Peru

Abstract

I examine the role of recall elections in Peruvian municipalities to evaluate whether they are used as a tool to increase political accountability. I test the theoretical assumptions of elite mobilization theory and other theories related to the functions of political parties and invalid votes. I use logistic regression to analyze a dataset with recall elections until 2013. The results show that recall elections were held most frequently in municipalities with high local electorate party membership when the percentage of blank votes was low, and the margin of victory was low in previous municipal elections. The key variables for the successful removal of a mayor include the political experience of the organizer of a recall procedure, the number of null votes, and votes for the winner in previous municipal elections. Future research should build on these findings and further examine recall elections.