Geography of electoral participation and socio-spatial differentiation in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico

Abstract

Studies of electoral geography in Mexico have recently incorporated concepts such as spatial dependence. Thereby, it is sought underscore the relevance of the geographic dimension as one of the explanatory dimensions of voting. The article investigates the relationship between sociospatial differentiation and citizen participation in the formation of nuclei between the electoral sections of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. In exploring this, the importance of spatial effects resulting from the proximity of electoral sections are considered. This work presents spatial analysis techniques (spatial autocorrelation, spatial regressions and cartographic methods). Among the main results, evidence of spatial groupings was found, which means that in the geographical space the values of the percentage of electoral participation and socio-spatial differentiation have a greater relationship with those spaces that are closer than the distant ones. A decrease in the level of socio-spatial differentiation increases the level of electoral participation. These values vary across the urban space verifying that the spatial configuration of citizen participation in Ciudad Juárez during the 2012 presidential elections does not occur randomly. In short, the article provides evidence of the interdependence and feedback between the electoral sections which, in turn, ratifies the neighbourhood effect.