ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 examines the factors that affect the participation and electoral performance of post-rebel parties after the initial war-to-peace transition and first election. It explores the impact of various factors like war characteristics, the nature of the peace process, organizational attributes of rebels, and the post-war institutional structure. Following Chapter 2, which focused on the factors explaining the formation of these parties, this chapter examines what happens after the armed opposition groups form electoral parties. We show that post-rebel parties remain persistent actors in the post-conflict party system. Most continue to participate in all available national (or territory-wide) legislative elections. One significant finding of this chapter is that the initial performance of these parties is key in determining the future success and survival of the party in the long run. After this first election, parties tend toward rather stable electoral performance over the years. Yet, the evidence from our analysis shows that parties also change over time in response to their repeated participation in elections, though this change is not always in the direction of organizational development or in ways likely to support democracy.
