Candidates in Parliamentary Elections: Analysis of the Preferential Voting in the Elections to the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic in 2006

Abstract

The paper deals with the issue of the "candidate effect" within the proportional electoral system. The basic database consists of the total count and the share of preferential votes won by the candidates listed as first on party ballots in the Czech national parliamentary elections in June 2006. These election results, which are analyzed in the following text, are limited only to the ballots of those political parties that won seats in the Chamber of Deputies (that is, CSSD, KDU-CSL, KSCM, ODS, SZ). Individual outputs are based on a comparison of the election results for particular candidates in their electoral districts, in relation to their positions on the party ballots.

Party nomination strategies in flexible-list systems

“…In the Czech Republic, the lowering of the threshold, combined with an increase from two to four preferences voters are allowed to indicate, has even trebled the number of elected candidates clearing the threshold. Post-reform, a record of one in four Czech legislators in 2010 gained election solely on the basis of their preference votes, suggesting a dramatic change towards more open lists (see also Stegmaier and Vlachová, 2011; Voda and Pink, 2010).…”

“… 5. District magnitudes are based on the population census in Belgium but on turnout in the Czech Republic, mirroring as such differences in turnout between the districts (Voda and Pink, 2010). …”