Costly electoral campaigns and the changing composition and quality of parliament: Evidence from Benin

Abstract

The distribution of material benefits to voters at election time is a widespread practice that raises the cost of campaigning and is on the increase across Africa. This article examines the consequences of the high cost of campaigning in African democracies. It argues that the prevalence of gift giving and vote buying affects parties’ selection of candidates by privileging wealthy candidates and pushing out qualified, but less-endowed candidates. This argument is supported with original data on the backgrounds of Members of Parliament from six legislatures in Benin, a successful African democracy. It shows that the number of wealthy candidates has increased substantially since the introduction of multi-party politics 26 years ago and that this trend has important implications for the quality of democracy. Using data on MP performance, the article shows that along some important indicators, wealthy candidates perform worse in office than other MPs. These findings indicate that the consequences of electoral handouts to voters are much more far-reaching than previously thought.