The reality that the vast majority of the Arab regimes are strongly authoritarian in character, even in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, have led many to assume that institutions and processes such as political parties and legislative elections are without much importance. While it is unquestionably true that legislative elections only play a minor role in determining who governs in quite a number of Arab regimes, elections should certainly not be ignored as they tell us a great deal about the nature of a country’s political system, particularly the party system and its components, as well as about continuity and change within the party system. This article analyzes legislative and presidential election data from across the Arab world with a view to assess continuity and change, particularly after the eruption of the Arab Spring. At the core of this analysis are two issues: party system change and the character of the new components of the various party systems. With regards to the discussion of the nature and extent of party system change, the analysis centres on indicators such as the effective number of parties, electoral volatility, and the performance of the top parties. On the topic of the new components of the region’s party systems following the Arab Spring, the analysis focuses on questions relating to the frequency of such new parties, their origins (internally vs externally created; fusions vs fissions), their ideological orientation, and their size. Are they, in other words, relevant, and do they appear to indicate democratic political change? Given the comparative nature of the analysis, and the broad span of cases, a final objective is, of course, to determine whether any patterns can be identified across the region, as well as the strength of any such patterns.

This paper investigates the nature of party-voter linkages in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) with data from recent surveys by the Arab Barometer, Afro Barometer, and World Values Survey. It analyses the extent of programmatic voting in the MENA by examining the degree of ideological congruence between parties and voters, parties' support bases, and bribe offers in elections. Focusing on Islamist and left-secular voters in seven MENA countries, it finds that programmatic voting exists but is most prominent for Islamist voters and displays peculiar characteristics. Ideological congruence is tilted towards identity issues whereas there are virtually no differences across voters regarding economic issues. There is also no evidence of class based party support with Islamist and left-secular parties sharing a similar support base of middle class voters. Only Islamist voters are less likely to be offered bribes in elections. Key results are robust across surveys.

This research examines the historical evolution of Tunisia's Constitutional Democratic Rally Party (RCD) from its beginnings in 1987, when President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali took power, until his ousting in 2011 when the party was outlawed. I argue that the RCD evolved from a political force with wide popular support during a short democratic era (1987–89) into a repressive interest group in the 1990s, when the regime cracked down on political dissidents and popular freedoms while rewarding party members with lucrative benefits. In the 2000s the RCD adopted a quasi-mafiosi structure that profited the Ben Ali family, which increasingly monopolized economic and political power. This transformation from a dominant-party state into a near dynasty marginalized many RCD members and its wider networks, ultimately leading to Ben Ali's ousting in 2011.