Legislative party switching between government and opposition in Guatemala

Abstract

Legislative transfuguism is one of the main weaknesses of the party system in Guatemala. It fosters constant reconfigurations of power relations in Congress, calling into question the functioning of democracy. The objective of this study is to describe in four legislatures –since 2004–, how transfuguism has contributed to strengthen the fragmentation of Guatemala’s party system. In order to measure it, we use the number of defecting legislators, as well as indicators of volatility, fluency and transfuguism rates. The directionality of migration is also examined: the ruling party or the opposition blocks in the internal dynamics of the Congress. The article argues that transfuguism sharpens the institutional weakness in the party system, and that the alteration of the size of the seats responds to personal and/or leadership; incentives, in order to add more political power in the parliamentary arena.

Keywords

• transfuguismo
• representación parlamentaria
• institucionalización
• partido político
• guatemala