01458pab a2200169 454500 180718b2001 xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d Reich, Garg M. Coordinating party choice in founding elections: why timing matters 2001 p.1237-263 Dec This article examines the causes of party system fragmentation in new democracies, arguing that party formation and coordination in emerging party systems are closely linked to the politics of democratization. In particular, elections that occur late within regime transitions are likely to produce more fragmented party systems than are early founding elections; in situations of economic instability, the decentralizing effect of a late founding election is likely to be greater. The results confirm this hypothesis: The farther away founding elections occur from the transfer of executive authority from an authoritarian regime, the more fragmented is the resulting party system. The effect of a late founding election increases as the inflation rate increases. These results are important because the pattern of fragmentation established in founding elections is relatively stable; indeed, founding elections do not appear anomalous compared with subsequent elections, contrary to conventional wisdom. - Reproduced. Political parties Elections Comparative Political Studies 51771 51771 51771 0 0 0 0 IIPA IIPA 2018-07-19 Volume no: 34, Issue no: 10 AR52199 2018-07-19 2018-07-19 AR