The More, the Smoother? Candidate Selection and Intraparty Competition

Abstract

This chapter examines candidate selection procedures as institutions that could affect politics. We bridge two intraparty phenomena, i.e. how candidates are selected and how candidates compete against each other within the party before the elections. With the aim of studying whether the type of selectorates may affect the competitiveness of the selection, we rely on Norris and Lovenduski (1995)’s process of political recruitment model. The chapter shows that both the inclusiveness and the centralisation of the party gatekeepers affect intraparty competition but our findings do not always follow the expected patterns. We conclude by suggesting that, through candidate selection mechanisms, political parties could be able to master the degree of intraparty cohesion in the pre-electoral period and thus maintain a strong the candidate-party linkage.