assembly. Since 2005, however, they have had to compete in an open election where voters directly choose their preferred leader …

significant effect in the pre-election year. In addition, we found evidence suggesting that though democracy significantly lowers … results of the system GMM revealed that the fiscal deficit is significantly large in election years and the deficit spending … spills into the year after the election, though not as high as in the election year. We could not, however, find a …

exchange for their votes. That practice undermines the functioning of democracy but is pervasive in many parts of the world …