National games for local gains: legislative activity, party organization and candidate selection

Chiru, M. and Gherghina, S. (2020) National games for local gains: legislative activity, party organization and candidate selection. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, 30(1), pp. 64-82. (doi: 10.1080/17457289.2018.1537280)

Abstract

Conventional research on political careers has emphasized the use of local offices as a springboard for national careers. However, movements in the reverse direction can also happen when local offices are available and attractive for national level politicians. This article argues that various types of legislative behavior and party strategy influence the likelihood that national legislators run in local elections and tests how this happens. The analysis focuses on Romania and uses an original dataset compiled for the 2016 local elections. Our findings show that legislators with a rich record of parliamentary activity will continue at the national level, while those who do constituency work, and those who can help their parties more locally, move to local politics.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Mihail Chiru’ s work was supported by the UCLouvain through the ‘MOVE-IN Louvain’ Incoming Post-doctoral Fellowship, co-funded by the Marie Curie Actions of the European Commission.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Gherghina, Dr Sergiu
• Authors: Chiru, M., and Gherghina, S.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Politics
• Journal Name: Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 1745-7289
• ISSN (Online): 1745-7297
• Published Online: 24 October 2018
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2018 Elections, Public Opinion and Parties
• First Published: First published in Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties 30(1): 64-82
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy