Event Details

Dr Will Daniel Associate Professor of Comparative Politics Nottingham University Optimising Representation: Candidate Selection and Candidate Characteristics in European elections (with Dr Anthony Kevins, Loughborough University)

Appeals to identity politics, both those of voters and of politicians, play an increasingly prominent role in perceptions of representation (Bjarnegård and Kenny 2016; Rahat and Hazan 2001). We exploit the natural institutional variation found in European Parliament elections to explore the link between politicians’ visible characteristics, candidate selection and vote choice during the 2024 contest. In doing so, we assess the extent to which parties select candidates that provide a descriptive ’fit’ with the constituencies they represent, as well as how this quest to ’optimise representation’ varies across the 27 different electoral systems used in the EP elections. Our findings provide evidence that an ideological coherence exists between party left-right placement, candidate gender balance, and the selection of candidates with native- versus foreign-sounding names. We also demonstrate that this coherence can lead to homophily among voters and affect vote choice.

Keywords: candidate selection, candidate traits, representation, elections, European Parliament