Från politisk ideologi till valintegritet : Hur ideologiska positioner påverkar valintegritet i demokratiska stater

This paper aims to examine the relationship between the ideological positioning of political parties on the left-right scale and the electoral integrity in democratic countries. While previous research has provided valuable insight into the connection between voter perception of democracy and electoral integrity, the focus on political parties remains underexplored. By combining well-established data of content analysis on political manifestos and data on electoral integrity, this field can be better researched. The focus here is to examine the correlation between a political party’s ideology and the electoral integrity in their country. This relationship is examined through a quantitative study using merged data from Perceptions of Electoral Integrity (PEI) and the Manifesto Project Database (MPD). The content analysis from MPD is applied to the following election to establish the relationship. The study includes data from 59 countries and 208 elections between 2012 and 2023. The main finding is that left-oriented parties are more often found in countries with stronger electoral integrity, even if the effect is not substantial. This correlation is still boosted when controlling for factors such as economic equality, average years of education, and voter turnout. The correlation could stem from left-oriented parties being more associated with matters of equality and social justice, while right-oriented parties to a greater extent have shown a more cautious approach to political diversity.