How Do Ethnic Parties and Ethnic Quotas Matter for Ethnicity and Voting in Latin America?

This article addresses an interesting puzzle in the study of ethnic disparities in political participation: inter-ethnic equality in political participation. Previous studies in the U.S. have shown an ethnic gap in political participation. Still, comparative research in other regions yields a mixed result, suggesting ethnic minority status may not always be associated with lower levels of participation. This article sheds light on this puzzle by investigating ethnic disparities in voting among four ethnic groups (white, mixed, indigenous and black) in Latin America. We explore the influence of ethnic parties and ethnic quotas in reducing participatory inequalities among ethnic groups. We theorise that ethnic parties, which represent the organisational resources of ethnic groups, and ethnic quotas, which expand political opportunities, can help to narrow the ethnic gap in voting. Our multilevel regression models based on cross-national data from the Latin American Public Opinion Project for 18 Latin American countries over four survey waves (2012-2018) strongly support our hypothesis. We find that both ethnic parties and ethnic quotas are correlated with higher turnout among (some) ethnic groups. It helps in reducing and equalising voting among ethnic minorities such as indigenous and black voters. These results challenge notions of an ethnic voting gap and underscore the importance of organisational resources and institutional opportunities in shaping electoral participation.