The Colombian Camara data set contains information on elections to
the lower house of the Colombian Congress for the years 1974 to
1990.  The unit of observation is a year-district-list (that is, a
list in a particular district for a given election year).  The 
dataset includes a list identification number, the list's party 
affiliation, the number of votes and seats won by the list, 
and the number of votes cast in the district as a whole.  It also
gives the year of the election, the number of seats available in
the district in which the candidate ran, and the number of blank
and null votes cast in that district.

The data set has 1584 observations and covers the elections of 1974,
1978, 1982, 1986, and 1990.  These data were compiled from
official election returns and candidate votes were verified
by comparing calculated totals for a district with the reported
totals.  

Redistricting occurred in 1991.  Eight new districts were added and
two (Valle and Quindio) were deleted.  

The variables are described below:

blank;    the number of blank votes cast in a given district

list;     an arbitrary, though unique number assigned to each
          list (numbered from 1 to 1584) 

dist;     Districts names were numbered from 1 to 34 as shown in
          the following table.  

          ANTIOQUI       1    LA GUAJIRA          14
          ARAUCA         2    MAGDALEN            15
          ATLANTIC       3    META                16
          BOLIVAR        4    NARINO              17
          BOYACA         5    NORTE SAN.          18
          CALDAS         6    PUTUMAYO            19
          CAQUETA        7    QUINDIO             20
          CAUCA          8    RISARALDA           21
          CESAR          9    SAN ANDRES          22
          CHOCO          10   SANTANDER           23
          CORDOBA        11   SUCRE               24
          CUNDINAMARCA   12   TOLIMA              25
          HUILA          13   VALLE               26
          AMAZONAS       27   SANTAFE DEL BOGOTA  31
          CASANARE       28   VALLE DEL CAUCA     32
          GUAINIA        29   VAUPES              33
          GUAVIARE       30   VICHADA             34
 
m;        the district magnitude (the number of seats available in
          a given district at a given election)

null;     the number of null votes cast in the election, by
          district

lseats;   the number of seats won by the list

lparty;   the party affilation of the list; party names were 
          numbered from 0 to 21 as follows:

     OTROS          0    FD                   7   CRISTIAN  15
     LIBERALES      1    MUM                  8   FP        16 
     CONSERVADORES  2    COALICION            9   INDIAN    17
     ANAPO          3    MID                 10   M-19      18
     UNO            4    UP                  11   MONC      19
     SDC            5    MNC                 12   MSN       20
     FUP            6    NLFD                13   MUC-MUNN  21
                         NUEVO LIBERALES     14

totvote;  the total number of votes cast in an election.  The total
          includes blank and null ballots.

lvote;     the number of votes won by a list 

year;     the year of the election