In Search of Credible Elections and Parties: The Philippine Paradox 73 provinces but also in the worst provinces. For instance, in the 2007 gubernatorial elections, eight out of the ten incumbent governors in the ten topranked provinces by HDI won their reelection bids (one ran for Congress). These top ten provinces were Benguet, Rizal, Cavite, Bataan, Laguna, Pampanga, Ilocos Norte, Batanes, Nueva Vizcaya, and La Union. But as in the 2004 study by Virola et al., eight out of the 10 incumbent governors also won reelection in the worst 10 provinces by HDI ranking (Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Maguindanao, Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Masbate, Sarangani, Eastern Samar, Zamboanga del Norte and Romblon). The study of electoral outcomes between 1987 and 2010 show little evidence that elections have served as accountability mechanisms either from a “mandate” or “sanctions” point of view. A mandate system of accountability assumes that citizens can use elections to select “good policies or policy-bearing politicians”. On the other hand, a “sanctions” view means that voters use elections “to hold governments responsible for the results of their past actions”. However, the low turnover rates for representatives and governors across all provinces, regardless of socio-economic conditions, suggest that neither of these accountability mechanisms seems to work. Moreover, the ability of incumbent political families to win even in the provinces with the worst governance and socio-economic outcomes stress the fact that there are deepseated structural problems (such as poverty and lack of education) and backward political-institutional practices (such as patronage networks, unregulated use of violence and coercion, and electoral manipulation) that systematically undermine the potential of elections to serve as accountability mechanisms. Elections, Political Parties and Democratic Accountability Electoral practices in normally functioning democratic systems are usually complemented by a party system that enhance the accountability process and help in more effective governance. As Hagopian points out, “political parties are the most important agents of political representation in modern democracies” (2007: 582). The comparative literature on elections and parties, for instance in Latin America, show that institutionalized party systems facilitate effective governance by providing structure to democratic politics in the electoral arena and the legislature (Mainwaring and Scully 2008: 119).27 Drawing on their studies of various Latin American countries, the same authors argue that “without a reasonably institutionalized party system, the future of democracy is bleak.” (1995: 473-4).