Going for a Safe Vote: Electoral Bribes in Post-Communist Romania

This paper tests a dual rationality of electoral bribery with evidence from Romania. Earlier research argues that the era of mass liberal democracies brought such practices to an end. However, empirical evidence indicates that this is not the case. Using a qualitative approach, this single-case study shows how the territorial division of votes in a relatively stable environment of party competition can foster the existence of electoral bribes. Its central argument is that political parties use this mechanism both to preserve their territorial strongholds and with the aim of gaining supplementary support from potential swing voters.