ABSTRACT
The very nature of democracy means that the operations of these laws are unimpeded, regularly and routinely making themselves felt in electoral returns. However, in half of the autocracies either there were no elections during the entire dictatorial reign, or at the first competitive election, there was no ruling party on the ballot, it having been dissolved or disappeared before the election was held, as in the Dominican Republic, Portugal, and Romania. A comm-soc regime is one ruled by a single party, by itself or with minor partners serving as window dressing in a “popular front,” usually espousing some version of a totalitarian ideology. In some cases, a pre-war dictatorship is also included, either because the post-war dictatorship originated in the earlier period, or because it helps illustrate the effects of regime change over time. In half of those dictatorships, marked with an asterisk, regularly or periodically voters were summoned to cast ballots in favor of the incumbents.
