Extreme non-viable candidates and quota maneuvering in Brazilian legislative elections

• Main Authors: Kristin Wylie, Pedro dos Santos, Daniel Marcelino
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Estadual de Campinas 2019-05-01
• Series: Opinião Pública
• Subjects: Brasil; eleições legislativas; candidatos não viáveis; cotas de gênero; partidos políticos
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-62762019000100001&lng=en&tlng=en

This article explores the causes and consequences of extreme non-viable candidacies, also known as “ laranja ” (orange) candidacies in the Brazilian political lore. We first define and delineate what makes a candidate a laranja, engaging the comparative literature on sacrificial lambs and using district-level electoral results to operationalize the concept. We then advance a typology of laranjas with four ideal types that vary along dimensions of legality and intentionality. Next, we apply descriptive statistics and a hierarchical logistic regression model to explore the individual, party, and district-level characteristics of extreme non-viable candidates and assess whether and how laranjas are distinct from non- laranjas. Finally, we illustrate the gendered character of laranjas, documenting how the candidate gender quota law in Brazil has been associated with a proliferation of candidatas laranjas (women extreme non-viable candidates).