Dilma's election or Lula's second reelection? A spatial analysis of 2010

Abstract

Much has been said about the role of "Bolsa Família" in the Presidential election of Lula in 2006 and the change of his voter profile. However, little has been said about the effects of Lula’s support and "Bolsa Família" on Dilma’s electoral performance in the 2010 Presidential elections. Using a spatial econometrics’s approach in this paper we evaluate the importance of these (and other) factors on Dilma and her opponents’ electoral performance in the 1st round of 2010 elections. It is interesting to understand what factors had more weight on her previous election and how this can be seen in the light of the current scenario. Aggregated data at the municipality level are used in the analysis, considering variables such as candidates’ share of total votes and socioeconomics indicators (per capita income, proportion of beneficiaries of "Bolsa Família", percentage of poor, rate of illiteracy, among others). The results indicate a decisive participation of former President Lula and the Bolsa Família Program. Even controlling for Lula’s share of votes in the previous election, the "Bolsa Família" Program remains significant for Dilma’s election. The Lula’s effects, however, was larger than the one found for the Program. It is worth noting that this results in line with the one indicated by Zucco (2013), in the sense that the "Bolsa Família" shows positive short run electoral effects, helping the incumbent party, but shows no long run effects, with the loyalties to parties and/or persons.

Bolsa Família; elections; Lula