Niche parties in Latin America

Figures & data

Figure 1. Frequences of party nicheness scores by country.

Table 1. Niche Parties based on nicheness scores.

Country	Party	English name	Issue	Issue salience	Issue position	L-R position	Vote share
Argentina	FrePoBo	Buenos Aires Popular Front	Social issues	4.1	4.0	16.7	6.2*
			Liberty v. Security	5.5	18.4
Brasil	PV	Green Party	Environment	3.8	2.8	7.4	3.8
			IPM	2.6	4.4
Chile	PH	Humanist Party	Environment	6	2.4	4.9	1.7
			IPM	3.4	3.1
	PRI	Independent Regionalist Party	Decentralization	5.2	5	13.4	1.2
	UDI	Independent Democratic Union	Liberty v. Security	2.6	18.1	18.1	23.9
			Social issues	2	18
			Religion	3	17.2
Colombia	AICO	Colombian Indigenous	IPM	7.3	1.5	5.9	.23
		Authority	Environment	5.5	2.4
	MAL	Liberal Aperture Movement	Environment	4	13	14.3	2.7
			IPM	4	12.2
	ASI	Independent Social Alliance	IPM	5.4	1.4	5.6	.59
Costa Rica	PRN	National Restoration Party	Religion	6.2	15.9	14.4	9.4*
			Social issues	7.4	18.2
	PRC	Costa Rican Renovation Party	Religion	8	12.5	13.9	3.5
			Social issues	6	18.7
Dominican	PRSC	Social Christian Reformist Party	Religion	4.4	16	16.3	21.9
Republic			Social issues	4.6	18
Ecuador	MUPP	Pachakutik Movement	IPM	8.3	1.2	3.6	3.7
	PDC	Christian Democratic Party	Social issues	5	18.4	15	6.8
			Religion	4.4	18.1
			IPM	4.7	18.1
Guatemala	EG	Encounter Guatemala	IPM	5	2.1	4.7	6.2
Honduras	PUD	Democratic Unification Party	Liberty v. Security	6	2.3	4.7	3.9
			Religion	3	2.3
	PINU	Innovation and Unity Party	Religion	4.3	12.5	8.7	1.6
Mexico	PVEM	Mexican Ecological Green Party	Social issues	10	7.3	13.1	28.2*
Nicaragua	PRN	Nicaraguan Resistance Party	Social issues	2.5	10.5	13	14.3*
Panama	PP	Panamanian Party	Religion	6	15	13.2	6
			Social issues	3	17
Peru	RN	National Renovation	Religion	8	16.8	13	3.8
Venezuela	COPEI	Social Christian Party	Religion	3.4	15.9	14.8	5.4
			Social issues	3.9	15.9
Uruguay	UC	Civic Union	Social issues	4.2	16.8	14.9	.2
			Religion	4.6	15.9

Figure 2. Mean expert linkage scores by party type.

Table 2. Empirical analysis: the effect of nicheness of linkage strategies.

	Programmatic linkage	Alternative linkage		Organizational linkage
	Programmatic	Charismatic	Partisan identity	Ethnic org.	Religious org.
	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3	Model 4	Model 5
Nicheness score	−.11(.04)**	.04(.07)	−.10(.08)	.04(.02)*	.04(.02)**
Control variables
Party age (logged)	.01(.04)	−.15(.06)*	.38(.06)***	−.00(.00)	.01(.01)
Ideology	−.05(.04)	.00(.04)	−.01(.04)	−.01(.02)	.01(.01)
Ideology (squared)	.00(.00)	.00(.00)	.00(.00)	.00(.00)	−.00(.00)
Party size	1.3(.22)***	2.1(.63)**	1.2(.34)**	−.01(.07)	−.07(.10)
Electoral strategy	.15(.11)	−.57(.08)***	−.05(.21)	.03(.05)	−.03(.03)
Constant	3.3(.27)***	2.9(.25)***	1.7(.36)***	.14(.11)	−.07(.05)
Parties	80	80	80	80	80
Countries	17	17	17	17	17
Log likelihood	−48.4	−80.1	−.83.8	−75	60.9
$R^2$	.36	.36	.51	.21	.16

Figure 3. The effect of party type on programmatic linkages.

Figure 4. The effect of nicheness on alternative linkages.