Political Parties and Electoral
Politics
Prof. Lourdes Veneracion-Rallonza, PhD
Department of Political Science
Ateneo de Manila University
POLITICAL PARTIES
• group of people organized for the purpose of winning
government power, by electoral or other means
• interest holders united by a definite set of party programs
and attempt to advance a consistent line of policy
• main goal is to gain control of the levers of government
so that they can realize their policies or programs
Characteristics
• organizational structure w/ lines of
authority and power distribution
• seeks to attract popular support in the
form of votes
• recruits and fields candidates for elective
positions
Types of Political Parties
• Based on membership
- mass
- cadre
- devotee
• Based on arena of activities
- constitutional
- revolutionary
Types of Political Parties
• Based on ideological orientation
- Left parties (Far-left): goal is the eventual
destruction of existing class hierarchies in society,
by violence if necessary; call for comprehensive
government intervention in the economy to
redistribute wealth & guarantee welfare security to
the most vulnerable
- Center-Left parties: differ from left by their
disavowal of violence and coercion; believe that
equitable distribution of wealth is still a societal
goal that should be realized by proper state
intervention (with concurrence from the people)
Types of Political Parties
• Based on ideological orientation
- Center parties: believe in the value of self-
initiative & a minimal state role on economy
- Center-Right parties: believe that the task of the
government is to provide peace and order and to
ensure the proper enforcement of laws and legal
contracts
- Right parties (Far-Right): parties of ultra
conservatism & exclusionism; believe in „natural‟
differences among humans and that there are some
persons, races, religions, classes that are more fit
to rule than others.
ELECTORAL POLITICS
• vital connections between state authority
and society, linking the structure of
government to other social groupings
• political action – seeking power to achieve
policy objectives
ELECTIONS
• “a device for filling an office through
choices made by a designated body of
people: the electorate”
• for the ordinary citizen: “elections are
seen as the clearest instance of politics
entering their lives”
Functions
• “Bottom-Up” functions (People
Government View)
– provide the citizenry with a meaningful way
of participating in government
– mechanism for leadership selection
– An instrument for evaluating and changing
governments
– forum for interest articulation and political
socialization
Functions
• “Top-Down” functions (Government-
People View)
– instrument of rule legitimization
– guide to political strategy
– agent of political socialization and
integration
Voting Activities in the
Philippines
• Elections – citizenry selects person who will
exercise governmental power
• Plebiscite - popular vote conducted to get
electorate’s view on permanent changes to
state’s political structure.
• Referendum – popular vote regarding
soundness of a law proposed
• Recall – constitutional measure which
empowers citizenry to remove a local official.
• Initiative – a given percentage of voters may
officially propose a law.
The Voting System in the
Philippines: Party-List
Party-List System – Art. VI Sec. 5 of the
1987 Philippine Constitution
– - party-list representatives be elected to constitute 20 per
centum of the total number of the seats in the House of the
Representative
Provides opportunity for under-represented
sectors and parties in Philippine society to
have a legitimate chance of winning
representation in Congress
Quality of Elections in the
Philippines
• Anomalies in Philippine Elections:
1) lack of human manpower in the
COMELEC
2) influence of “gold, guns and goons”
3) flying voters
4) vote buying
5) tampering with the election returns
6) „dagdag-bawas‟
Quality of Elections in the
Philippines
• Prevention of electoral frauds:
1) vigilance of the citizens
2) relevant government bodies
3) reforms such as computerization and
continuous registration
4) political education
5) poll observers (local and international)
during elections
