This paper addresses one of the most complex and controversial dimensions of the quality of democracy: responsiveness, or the capacity of parties and parties in government to respond to the interests of society. Even though there is no clear agreement on the dimensions that a democracy should contemplate, responsiveness stands out as the one that connects the procedural dimensions of democracy –vertical and horizontal accountability, political competition, and participation- with the substantial ones –liberty, equality en equity. According to Bartolini, this is the response capacity of parties or governments to social interests. How can we identify if responsiveness exists in a democracy? Which are the institutional and political conditions that generate responsiveness? The goal of this article is to analyze to what extent elections connect social preferences with the alternatives presented by political parties. It also examines to what extent the institutional structure that makes that connection possible, exist. In order to do so, this article is divided in 3 sections. In the 1st one there is a general discussion about responsiveness and the difficulties to clearly define and measure it. In the 2nd section there is a general overview of the “first stage” of responsiveness in Chile, Mexico and Ecuador. The last part analyzes the way in which institutional conditions make it possible for the democratic process to align citizenry’s demands and partisan offer in the countries analyzed.
