Candidate selection and ethnic minority aspirants: Exploring the effect of party selectors’ biases in a PR system

Abstract

This study examines whether ethnic majority party selectors’ ethnic biases (e.g. beliefs about the political traits of ethnic minority aspirants) impede the selection of ethnic minority aspirants in a proportional representation system. To this end, a quasi-experiment was conducted among local party chairs in Flanders (Belgium). The participants were asked to evaluate both a hypothetical ethnic minority aspirant and an ethnic majority aspirant. When the participants were negatively biased against the ethnic minority aspirant, the selection chances of the ethnic minority aspirant vis-à-vis the ethnic majority aspirant declined. Additionally, the quasi-experimental data were linked to an analysis of the real-life candidate lists composed by the participants for the 2018 local elections in Flanders. The participants’ ethnic biases could not predict the percentage of ethnic minority candidates on the real-life candidate lists. Instead, the presence of ethnic minority voters, aspirants and co-selectors determined the diversity of the lists.

Reproducing white normativity in parties' candidate recruitment: Evidence from the 2017 Finnish municipal elections

“…The underrepresentation of EMM candidates speaks of a potentially severe democracy deficit. Previous scholarly literature has brought up the impact of negative stereotypes on parties' candidate recruitment (e.g., Durose et al, 2011, 2013; van Trappen, 2021a, 2021b). Our qualitative analysis adds to this discussion and provides more nuanced perspectives on the question of diversity on ballot lists.…”

“…Although voters make the final selection in elections, in reality voters select their candidates from lists preselected by parties. A range of studies confirm that discrimination by party gatekeepers plays a significant role in perpetuating the underrepresentation of EMMs: they may be placed on nonwinnable seats on candidate lists, nominated only in certain districts, or not targeted at all in parties' recruitment of candidates (R. M. Dancygier et al, 2015; Durose et al, 2013; Mügge, 2016; Sipinen, 2021; Sobolewska, 2013; Soininen, 2011; van der Zwan et al, 2019; Van Trappen, 2021a, 2021b). By analysing parties' candidate recruitment processes in the 2017 Finnish municipal elections, this study contributes to the recent scientific literature that aims to identify barriers for EMMs in access to political assemblies.…”

Selecting and Ranking Female Candidates Under PR: Evidence from a Two-Stage Conjoint Experiment with Party Elites

“…Conjoint experiments have become a standard toolkit in political science to analyze preferences in multi-dimensional decision-making problems (Hainmueller, Hopkins, and Yamamoto, 2014;Bansak et al, 2021b). In particular, they are used in a plethora of studies analyzing which candidate characteristics are important, including studies using this method for assessing party selector preferences (Teele, Kalla, and Rosenbluth, 2018;Rehmert, 2022;Berz and Jankowski, 2022;Van Trappen, 2021). Schwarz and Coppock (2022) provide an overview of the use of conjoint experiments for analyzing preferences toward female candidates.…”