ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the effects of institutional settings on the electoral fortunes of the new challenger parties. By institutional settings, I refer to electoral systems and the way parties are funded by the state. In section 5.1, I discuss the main aspects of electoral systems ranging across: i) electoral formula; ii) district magnitude; iii) ballot structure; iv) legal threshold; v) apparentement; and vi) upper-tier allocation. Section 5.2 discusses two kinds of public funding for political parties: i) direct public funding; and ii) indirect public funding, especially via free broadcasting. New challenger parties in focus are the entire set of 52 parties identified in the previous chapters.
