Candidate selection and its behavioral consequences

Abstract

The rules by which parties select their candidates are important, not only because they determine the policy and leaders of a party. Candidate selection, the identity of those taking the final decision (selectorate), has been found to impact the behavior of parliamentarians around the world (e.g. Preece, 2014; Sieberer, 2006). However, there is disagreement among scholars as to which kind of effect we can expect, under which conditions and why. In light of an interesting, previously unstudied case – Switzerland – and on the basis of rich data relating to many different political activities we re-investigate the question of how candidate selection affects the political behavior. Our results indicate that in highly personalized political systems like the Swiss, MPs selected by a more inclusive selectorate do not differ significantly from other MPs in party loyalty but are more likely to engage in some activities that are more visible to their cantonal selectorate.