Wais, Dennis

Tomas, Cheska Eunice

Changing Sides Changes Minds? Political Party Switching on Voting Behavior
Political parties are said to be the most important and visible among societal forces that
influence political decision and action as they attempt to win control of the government through the
ballot. Political parties, in theory, are to perform the important functions of candidate selection,
leadership formation, interest aggregation and agenda development (Aceron, 2009). Andrew
Heywood (2013) defines Political Party as a group of people organized to gain formal
representation or win government power; a party usually displays some measure of ideological
cohesion. Political parties strengthen the bureaucracy, effective legislature and accountability of
public officials (So, 2013). The 1987 Philippine Constitution encourages the existence of political
parties. Article IX-C, Section 6 states: A free and open party system shall be allowed to evolve
according to the free choice of the people.
In general, Philippine politics has been characterized by weak party system (So, 2013; Pacle,
2014). According to Pacle (2014), rather than an organized group of politicians bound by particular
political ideology, political parties are usually temporary get-togethers of candidates with the
similar aim of getting elected during the election season. Aceron (2009) remarked the same that
parties can be best described as temporary political alliances and that there are no real parties in the
country. It takes a simple procedure to join a political party as well as to leave one. This leads to
Party Switching. In the Philippines, Party Switching is observed as common.
In political models where there is a concept of political parties, Party Switching or Political
Turncoatism refers to the shifting from one political party to another political party for convenience
(Castro et al, 2013). A turncoat is a description for a person who turns their back or reverses their
loyalty to someone else (Pacle, 2014). A turncoat is also balimbing in Philippine context. It is also

called Paro-Paro politics where a candidate for political office flies like a paro-paro (butterfly).
That candidate is known as a political butterfly (Diaz, 2009). This is affirmed by Almonte (2007)
who described the countrys existing parties as catch-all parties that target to please everyone and
anyone form all sectors and social strata, and paper parties organized in an instant to support the
presidential ambition of a political personality. Parties do not select candidates, but are instead
formed by the candidates themselves as vehicles for their own campaigns (Aceron, 2009).
There are different factors that affect the decision of ones politician to switch to other party.
Shift of allegiance and support from one party to another is rampant to secure the seat in the political
arena. The basis of Turncoatism is not because a politician now believes in a different political
program but because the possibility of winning is there if he transfers to another political party
(Castro et al, 2013). The parties lack ideological core and persistent support group (So, 2013). The
parties are more general, without concrete social agenda and objectives. The political parties are
more election-oriented. In a research by Hicken (2009), Party Switching in the Philippines was
shown to be generally in the direction towards the presidents party, because the Philippine president
controls valuable resources. As a result, candidates make an effort to align themselves with the
strongest presidential contenders prior to elections to ease their political career. Weak institution of
the parties is another factor causing the party-switching. In the Philippines, there is no dominant
party where the major parties trade power at frequent intervals. The executive as well as legislative
branches follow the pattern of alternating control of the government (So, 2013).
Political turncoatism, party-switching or political party shifting is seen as a normal
phenomenon in the Philippine political arena. The weak party system of the country and the absence
of strong ideological ground of political parties greatly affect this phenomenon. Balimbing
politicians according to Ferorillaza (2013) are just like chameleons that change color to adapt to
their present environment. He continued, Political butterflies jump from one party to another in an

attempt to keep in with the political bandwagon, Little do they know, following the fad just signals
the nearing demise of their political careers as they gradually lose the trust of the Filipino electorate.
This can be seen with Filipino youth electorates in a survey done by Sandoval, et al (1996), claiming
that:
Like the average adult respondents, the youth considers economic matters as the most
important current problem of the Philippines, followed by crime and governance. As to what
the youth can personally do to help solve the problems identified, majority admit helplessness
and apathy. A similar sentiment is seen in their interest in politics.
The study aims to identify whether political party switching affects the voting behavior of
Fourth year Political Science students of Saint Louis University. Specifically, it aims to know if
political party switching matters to them and in what way does political party switching affect the
voting behavior in terms of their a) perception on candidates, b) candidate preference, and c) voting
decision.
Almonte, J. (2009). To Put our House In Order: We Must Level The Playing Fields. Metro Manila,
Philippines: Foundation for Economic Freedom.
Aceron, J. (2009). Its the (Non)System, Stupid!: Explaining Mal-development of Parties in the
Philippines. Reforming the Philippines Political Party System.
Heywood, A. (2013). Politics 4th Edition. New York, NY: Polgrave Macmillan.
Hichen, A. (2009). Building Party System in Developing Democracies. New York, NY: Cambridge
University Press.
Diaz, P. (2009). Games Political Butterflies Play. Retrieved from
http://globalbalita.com/2009/11/23/games-political-butterflies-play/
Castro, N. et al. (2013). Discipline Conceptualizations of Political Turncoatism. Retrieved from
http://turncoatism.blogspot.com/2013/03/discipline-conceptualizations-of.html
Ferorillaza. (2013). Of Turncoatism and Political Butterflies. Retrieved from
https://ferorillaza.wordpress.com/2013/02/10/of turncoatism-and-political-butterflies/
Sandoval, G. et al. (1996). The Situation of Filipino Youth: A National Survey. Retrieved from
http://www.sws.org.ph/youth.htm.
Pacle, K. (2014). Political Turncoatism. Retrieved from
https://kimberlypacle0805.wordpress.com/2014/03/16/politicalturncoatism/
So, E. (2013). Democracy in Crisis: Political Party in the Philippines. Retrieved from
https://soeuilee.wordpress.com/2014/03/13/democracy-in-crisis-political-party-in-thephilippines/