Armed Conflict and Electoral Participation in Colombia: The Case of the 2006 Presidential Election

Abstract

In Colombia a democratic regime coexists with an internal armed conflict characterized by the presence of three actors: the guerrillas, paramilitaries and the Government. In the last fifty years, despite elections occurred without interruption and with an electoral system of automatic register and voluntary vote, the electoral participation is the lowest in the region. In this paper, I shall study the link between armed conflict and electoral participation analyzing the presidential election of 2006. This election is relevant because there are two unusual situations: high electoral participation and a presidential reelection. The results show the influence of armed conflict factors in the electoral results, which acts like incentives for turnover and to choose a specific candidate, in this case Alvaro Uribe Velez.