District candidacies for the German Bundestag: what spurs or hampers intra-party competition?

Schindler, Danny; Pyschny, Anastasia; Cordes, Malte

doi:10.1080/13572334.2021.1974708

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…This is in line with research showing a strong and negative effect of incumbents on intra-party competition in German districts (Baumann et al, 2017; Reiser, 2014b; Schindler et al, 2021; Weßels, 2016). This rule applies to all political parties apart from the AfD 2 (see Tables A1 and B1 in the supplementary material).…”

Section: Empirical Analysissupporting

confidence: 91%

“…The Incumbency Rule discourages candidates to run against an incumbent. The rule helps to explain why incumbency hampers intra-party competition (Reiser, 2013; Schindler et al, 2021; Weßels, 2016) and why non-incumbents rarely win (Hazan and Rahat, 2010).…”

Section: Empirical Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Section 21 of the Electoral Law states that the nomination convention decides who will run for candidacy in the electoral district. However, informal rules de facto often lead to a multistage process in which preselections are held at local party branches and only the winners run for candidacy at the formal nomination convention (House Power Rule; see also Schindler et al, 2021). This is also evident from a quantitative analysis of the 2009 Federal Elections which showed that at least 24% of the nomination processes involved at least one applicant withdrawing their application before the convention due to preselections (Reiser, 2014b).…”

Section: Empirical Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Gallagher, 1988). Intra-party competition during candidate selection is also relevant as the “electoral game takes place in two arenas, not only between parties but also within them” (Hazan and Rahat, 2010; see also Carty, 1980; Schindler et al, 2021; see also the introduction to this Special Issue). It is an important part of the democratic process and strongly connected to representation and policy outcomes (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The informal rules of candidate selection and their impact on intra-party competition

Reiser

2023

Party Politics

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While the literature highlights the relevance of informal rules for candidate selection, empirical research has mainly focused on formal rules and procedures. This article contributes to our understanding by investigating how the informal rules employed by political parties impact on intra-party competition. Using the example of district nominations in Germany, and based on a longitudinal mixed methods design, the inductive analysis reveals five central informal rules: the Incumbency Rule, the Information Rule, the House Power Rule, Fairness Rules and Power-sharing Rules. These rules shape the expectations and behavior of those involved in candidate selection and have a significant impact on various aspects of intra-party competition. They decrease the number of aspirants, reduce intra-party conflict and emphasize the role of local party leaders in organizing and controlling intra-party competition.

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Section: Empirical Analysissupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Empirical Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Empirical Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The informal rules of candidate selection and their impact on intra-party competition

Reiser

2023

Party Politics

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Inside the ‘secret garden’: Candidate selection at the 2019 UK general election

Butler,

Miori,

Ford

2024

The British Journal of Politics and International Relations

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Candidate selections are seen as the ‘secret garden’ of UK politics. Hundreds of parliamentary constituencies rarely change hands, meaning that the ‘real election’ is the incumbent party’s selection process. Yet scholarship into candidate selection in the United Kingdom remains limited. In this article, we build a novel dataset of known shortlisted candidates in winnable seats to offer the first cross-party analysis of who gets shortlisted, and what factors influence success among shortlisted candidates. We find that shortlisted female and ethnic minority candidates are still less likely to be selected as parliamentary candidates, while living locally is by far the most significant factor affecting selection success. However, the nature of the 2019 snap election allowed parties to use emergency powers to advantage party insiders in late selections. We further find that, contrary to media focus, party faction was not a significant factor in Conservative or Labour Party selections.

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A Comparative Analysis of Selection Criteria of Candidates in Belgium

Vandeleene

Haute

2021

Front. Polit. Sci.

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The literature on candidate selection has focussed extensively on the degree of inclusiveness and decentralization of the selectorate, as part of the debate on intra-party democracy. However, much less attention has been paid to the degree of openness of candidacies, or selection criteria within parties. Yet parties have a lot of leeway in how they design selection criteria internally. Which guidelines do parties follow when making the crucial choice on which candidates to select for elections? This paper investigates selection criteria from two perspectives: the formal rules set by parties that restrict the candidate’s pool and the (informal) preferences of selectors that shape who gets selected. We aim first at contrasting the degree of party institutionalization and parties’ formal rules in candidate selection and so, we shed light on whether parties formalise their candidacy requirements and candidate selection processes to the same extent as other party activities. Second, the paper investigates the role of the selectorates, and how selectorate’s characteristics matter for the kind of (informal) selection criteria, be they intended at maximizing offices, votes or policies. Drawing on party statutes coded in the Political Party Database (PPDB) and 23 in-depth interviews with selectors, we study three francophone Belgian parties that differ both in terms of inclusiveness of the selectorate who has the final say on candidate selection and in terms of degree of centralisation, and in terms of party institutionalisation: the green party (Ecolo), the socialist party (PS), and the liberal party (MR). Our comparative analysis of parties, selection criteria provides new insights into the secret garden of politics and highlights in particular the major impact of parties, degree of centralization.

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District candidacies for the German Bundestag: what spurs or hampers intra-party competition?

Cited by 3 publications

References 30 publications

The informal rules of candidate selection and their impact on intra-party competition

The informal rules of candidate selection and their impact on intra-party competition

Inside the ‘secret garden’: Candidate selection at the 2019 UK general election

A Comparative Analysis of Selection Criteria of Candidates in Belgium

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