Parliamentary representation in Portugal: Ddeputies’ focus and style of representation

Abstract

Most of the empirical research on political representation has either focused on the analysis of descriptive representation, or on policy or ideological correspondence between voters and MPs. Only occasionally research has paid attention to what are the representatives' attitudes towards political representation, or to the type of relationship they establish with their voters and parties in this regard. By exploring the attitudes and behaviour of Portuguese deputies towards their role as representatives, using data from 2008, this article intends to contribute to filling that gap in the literature. Although mainly descriptive, the article also intends to unravel the individual determinants for the focus and style of representation. The findings suggest that the party is the main reference in representational relationships in Portugal, and that the factors that best explain the focus and style of representation are the deputies' immediate political goals.