Transfuguismo Legislativo en Guatemala Y Panamá

Abstract

Votes determine seats distribution in Legislative Congress across Central Ameri ca but, once in offce, legislators decide not to join their parliamentary bloc and join another one. This phenomenon of party-switching is so-called ¿transfuguis mo¿. This study seeks to explore the Guatemala (2012-2016) and Panama (2009-2014) cases from two perspectives: 1) the legislative party-switch and; 2) the formal rules that pretend counter such process, since transfuguismo¿ produces a changing correlation of forces inside the Legislative Branch that could beneft the party in offce or the opposition bloc. The main argument is that this behavior of legislators generates inter-party breakdown and institutional weakness, which alters the democratic rules.