ABSTRACT

According to the Duvergerian theories, the entrance of non-viable parties is a random phenomenon. Political parties should only present candidacies when they have chances of achieving representation, so that deviations in this equilibrium should only be temporary. At the mid and the long-term, parties would be thought to desert competition when non-viable. However, empirical evidence throughout the world questions this logic: both viable and non-viable parties systematically enter into competition, regardless of their electoral prospects. Why is it so? Which are the reasons that explain this violation of the Duvergerian gravity?