In this article I use the Unified Model of Vote from Adams, Merrill and Grofman (2005) to better understand the role of party strategies and party identification in the voter decision. I use the NOPP algorithm, derived from the work of Adams et al, and data from the ESEB to check the strategies adopted by the candidates in the last three presidential elections in Brazil. While this model provided a good approximation of the position of the PSDB candidates and other parties that were positioned more to the center and right it was not very precise in positioning the PT candidates and other parties that are positioned more to the left. This indicates that these parties move less by maximizing votes than by other factors.
voting; elections; ESEB; spatial models; party strategies
