The Nature of Elite Support for Elections

Abstract

The most significant characteristic of political democracy is the election of key governmental personnel. In both normative and empirical theories, the institution of elections has been treated as a central feature of the democratic process. I Elections are considered important in the democratic process because they are devices for selecting leaders and legitimizing the regime, means of giving the citizens the direct and indirect control over government, channels for the expression of public choices, and links between officials and the voting public through which influence is exchanged.2 Therefore, the extent to which elections are supported by the mass public and elite groups is a critical factor for democratic stability, and the erosion of such support is likely to strain the functioning of democratic process. The purpose of this paper is, first, to examine the level of support that an elite group, legislative candidates, manifests for