Unsuccessful candidates are more concerned about electoral fairness than election winners

Abstract

Democracy requires the losers of an election to accept their defeat to ensure a peaceful transition of power. When losing candidates question the outcome of an election, they undermine the democratic process and erode public trust in the electoral system. In the aftermath of the most recent presidential elections in the USA and Brazil, the losing candidates sowed doubt about the election results, leading to massive election turmoil. Apart from the two salient events, we know very little about how losing affects candidates' perceptions of the election. Using a regression discontinuity design and survey responses from hundreds of candidates in a country-wide election in Denmark - one of the most robust democracies in the world - we find that candidates who fail to win a seat are more concerned about electoral fairness than election winners. The corresponding effect of losing is 0.46 [95\% CI: 0.10, 0.82] points using a 5-point electoral fairness index or 0.6 standard deviations. Our findings have important implications as they show that the core democratic institution of elections may paradoxically fuel discontent with democracy among the people who are supposed to be its strongest advocates.