Much has been said about the structural causes of party system collapse which can include a myriad of factors such as lack of representation of the existent political parties, institutional changes that allow for the entrance of new political actors, or economic shocks which affect the political system. Little however has been said about the geographical effects of electoral patterns that permit the entrance of new political actors in these settings. By analyzing electoral results at the lowest possible aggregation level (electoral centre) I look at the evolution of electoral patterns in a collapsed system. I not only show, as it has been discussed in the literature, that urban areas are key in the emergence of new actors but that new electoral options do not become competitive until they penetrate lower income urban areas. I do this analysis by looking at electoral data from Venezuela’s elections since 1998.
