Parliamentary Candidate Research Articles

‘Sunderland Has Lost a Figure That Will Go Down in History’: Marion Phillips in the North East of England, 1923–1932

Selected as the Labour Party’s chief woman officer in 1918, Dr Marion Phillips played a prominent role in the British labour women’s movement before, during and after the Great War. However, her brief stint as Labour MP for Sunderland between 1929 and 1931 has not attracted the same level of academic attention as the parliamentary careers of other early women MPs. Phillips’s connection to the North East of England throughout the 1920s illuminates her work as chief woman officer, as well as the prominence of the labour women’s movement in the region. This article focuses on Phillips’s relationship with the labour movement in County Durham to understand how she was selected as a parliamentary candidate for Sunderland. The annual women’s gala, first held in June 1923, and the Women’s Committee for the Relief of Miners’ Wives and Children formed in response to the 1926 General Strike, are crucial to understanding her early connections to the region. Phillips’s sudden death in early 1932 led to a wave of local and national commemorations demonstrating the legacy of her political work.

Impact of Political Marketing Mix on Voting to the Parliamentary Candidate: A Study on the Jordanian Public Trends towards the Voting of the 19th Parliament

This study aimed to determine the impact of political marketing mix on selecting the parliamentary candidates in the 2020 elections, as well as to resolve the statistical differences in the perception level of political marketing mix according to sex, age and education. The study population consists of all voters in parliamentary elections of 2020 amounting to 1387360 voters. The study used the snowball sampling technique to reach the target sample size of 675 persons. The questionnaire is the main tool to collect the primary data. The study concludes that there was a statistically significant impact of the political marketing mix on the selection of parliamentary candidates. The study found that sex was the only variable that affected the political product, where the differences tend to male voters. The effects of other demographic variables were not confirmed. Finally, the study suggests a number of recommendations to develop the application of political marketing theory in conjunction with political parties, political marketing agencies, the Independent Electoral Authority, the Ministries of Political Development, Interior, Youth and Higher Education.

Hungarian System for the Nomination of Parliamentary Candidates between the Two Wars in the European Context

The institution of the nomination of parliamentary candidates was already well known in most European electoral systems between the two wars. Its purpose can be briefly summarized as meaning that the voters can only cast their votes for a person who has previously been nominated as a parliamentary candidate under the conditions specified by law. Within the European field, the contemporary Hungarian nomination system is characterized by its extraordinary intricacy, and the high number of abuses naturally follows from its complexity. However, in our study we do not deal with these abuses but describe the Hungarian rules and regulations while constantly researching its European aspects. Accordingly, we divided our work into three units. First of all, we classify the continent’s nomination systems in order to show where the place of the Hungarian rules and regulations between the two wars were. Thereafter, we review the development of the Hungarian rules based on the Electoral Decree of 1922, the (First) Electoral Act of 1925, the so-called “Nomination” Amendment Act of 1937 and the (Second) Electoral Act of 1938. Finally, using the Explanatory Memorandums to the mentioned acts and the discussion materials of the National Assembly/Parliament, we look for the European (comparative) examples that emerged during their creation. Our study will also show what the Explanatory Memorandums to the acts (which reflect the pro-government standpoint) or the parliamentary opposition considered worth highlighting from the nomination systems of foreign countries.

Participatory Methods: the Exemplary Case of the Bela Vista “Island” in Porto (2013-2017)

The authors summarize the origin and evolution of the urban “island” of BelaVista in Porto, Portugal, since the 19th century. Despite local residents mobilizing in the wake of the revolution of April 25th 1974 in the context of the urban housing and design initiative (Local Ambulatory Support Service — Serviço de Apoio Ambulatório Local, SAAL), they were unable to renovate the crumbling neighbourhood. The Residents’ Association, resisting the onslaught of demolition strategies that were driven by real estate interests, eventually managed, with the support from a technical team of architects, social scientists and activists, to mobilize residents and ensure the political commitment of an independent parliamentary candidate in order to rehabilitate the “island” of Bela Vista. The project was also subsequently supported by the Councillors of Culture and Urbanism. Though various quantitative (survey) and qualitative (interviews, life stories) methods were applied in the study, the article highlights and expands on the action-research method opposite to positivist assumptions.

I believe what I see: Impact of attire and academic degree on evaluation of personality traits of a politician.

The image of a politician primes people to judge his/her personality traits. Voters are looking for such qualities as honesty, intelligence, friendliness, sincerity, and trustworthiness. Most studies, however, concentrate on the evaluation of faces, and only some take into account the candidate's attire. The research included 320 participants between 18 and 78 years. It aimed to assess whether the parliamentary candidate's attire affects voters' evaluation of his personality traits. A description of his program was also presented to determine whether it affected the candidate's evaluation. Participants observed four versions of a fictional candidate's election materials: the candidate dressed in a formal suit or dressed casually and dressed formally or casually but bearing a doctor's degree. We used a self-constructed questionnaire to evaluate selected traits of the candidate's character. The findings revealed that participants believed an individual in casual wear to be more active, attractive, open to people and the world, friendly, honest, and reliable, and only more smart, and effective while dressed formally. Also, the academic degree proved to be of importance. Accordingly, the same person with a doctorate was additionally evaluated as competent, responsible when dressed casually, and responsible when wearing a suit. It confirms the assumption that the informal dress and academic degree are most influential. The program description proved to be of no significance. Our study shows that the way the candidate was dressed affected the evaluation of his personality characteristics. The participants attributed the casually dressed candidate the traits expected from a politician.

Moving up or down: parliamentary activity and candidate selection

ABSTRACT Although often theorised, empirical research concerning the relationship between parties’ candidate selection and MPs’ parliamentary activity is scarce. Our analysis focuses on the Dutch case, which features national party lists. It is therefore well-suited to examine the relationship between parliamentary activity (in terms of speeches, resolutions, amendments and questions) and candidate selection: are MPs reselected and do they move up or down the candidate list from one election to the next? We expect that more active MPs have a higher probability of reselection and promotion, i.e. moving up the candidate list. The empirical analysis of the Dutch lower house of Parliament between 1998 and 2017 combines data from the Dutch Parliamentary Behaviour Dataset with data on parliamentary speech-making. Our main finding is that speaking in the plenary is the parliamentary activity most strongly related to reselection and promotion.

Welsh Women MPs: Exploring Their Absence

Between 1918 and the end of the 1990s, Wales had only four women members of Parliament. This article concentrates largely on that period, exploring who these women were, and why there were so few of them. It analyses the backgrounds and careers of Megan Lloyd George, Eirene White and Dorothy Rees, the first three women to be elected, arguing that two of them were aided into their positions by their exclusive social connections and family backgrounds. These features were seen by their political parties and local associations as important in order to override concerns about their sex. Local associations were important because they always had a significant say over who was selected as a parliamentary candidate. This article will argue that many of these associations, from across the political spectrum, actively sought male candidates to stand for Parliament. Even women, who made up the core of voluntary teams at the local level, held conservative views about who should represent them at Westminster. This was relevant in areas dominated by heavy industry and the masculine culture it engendered, as well as other parts of the nation. This article reflects on the broader, under-studied theme of cultural conservatism in Welsh history. To demonstrate the long-term persistence of this theme, it outlines the mixed reaction from the mid-1980s to Ann Clwyd, the fourth woman to be elected an MP in Wales and the first candidate to ever stand in a south Wales valleys seat. The article then covers how more women slowly entered parliament, mainly via the mechanisms of all-women shortlists after 1997 despite a great deal of resistance to them, again at the local level. Finally, the record of the National Assembly for Wales, and the European Parliament, with its many more women members, are contrasted with the record of Westminster.

Women candidates, women voters, and the gender politics of India’s 2019 parliamentary election

ABSTRACT Gender quota campaigns to increase women’s parliamentary presence in India have been ongoing for more than twenty years. Meanwhile, each general election results in the slow growth of women MPs, partly due to political parties nominating few women. The 2019 election was no different in this respect –women still make up fewer than 15% of lower house MPs. Incidents of gendered violence against women candidates also contributed to a characterisation of 2019 as a ‘toxic’ election, and will likely further discourage women’s entry into politics. One positive development, however, was two regional parties’ implementation of voluntary party gender quotas in their parliamentary candidate nominations. This article focuses on women’s political participation as candidates and voters in the 2019 parliamentary election. Parties are scrutinised as key gatekeepers for women’s political recruitment. The article also discusses the new narrative of the growing power of women voters in India, exemplified by closing gender gaps in voter turnout, and representing another aspect of women’s political engagement, potentially influencing parties’ responsiveness to women voters. The article concludes by discussing the broader implications and significance of the 2019 election, areas for further research, and prospects for women’s participation and representation in the new parliament.

The geography of deprivation in New Zealand by electorate

ABSTRACTIn the run-up to the 2017 General Election, the economy, housing, health, education, inequality and justice were important policy issues. General Elections are a time when voters exercise their democratic right to vote for their preferred party and parliamentary candidate to represent themselves, their whānau and community. In many cases, political parties’ policies seek to improve the wellbeing of people who are living in more deprived communities, but people in deprived communities are typically less likely to vote. The recently released New Zealand Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) enables users to explore deprivation in electorates across the country. This paper compares the distribution of deprivation and voter turnout across a selection of General Electoral Districts (GEDs) and demonstrates that while overall patterns of deprivation may be similar between GEDs, the drivers of these patterns can differ immensely.

“More Like a Swagman than a Parliamentary Candidate”: Federal Election Meetings in Rural New South Wales and Victoria, 1910–22

Public meetings were one of the key electioneering methods employed in early twentieth-century Australia. These meetings and the beliefs that surrounded them did much to shape the era’s broader approach to electioneering. Rural candidates embarked on extensive tours of their constituencies, reinforcing a political culture focused on local representatives. Wide-ranging networks of party supporters were required to organise and publicise these tours, and so the public meeting also helped sustain a need for large party memberships. Meetings could be used to target some voter groups, but the time-consuming character of candidates’ tours meant that this potential was not often fully realised in the country.

Lost and Now Found: The Search for the Hidden and Forgotten

Lost and Now Found: The Search for the Hidden and Forgotten

A Professional Historian in Private Practice: Hugh Thomas (1931–2017), the Spanish Civil War and Beyond

After working in the Foreign Office, standing unsuccessfully as a Labour parliamentary candidate and briefly lecturing at Sandhurst, Hugh Thomas tried his hand as a novelist but found his metier when he accepted an invitation to write a history of the Spanish Civil War. For its colourful style and immense scholarship, it was hailed as a classic and opened the way many equally readable works on Cuba, Mexico and the Spanish Empire. After ten years as Professor of History at the University of Reading, he became one of Thatcher's advisers and was ennobled as Lord Thomas of Swynnerton.

Striving for influence

I consider how asymmetric information between the party selectorate and members of Parliament affects the renomination of incumbent candidates. By applying an adverse selection model, I argue that the selectorate looks to past performance to select candidates it expects will gain influence. However, the impact of performance varies according to the need for and availability of information. The European Parliament (EP) provides a most-likely case for information asymmetry. Studying three elections in 11 member states, I find that the allocation of influential positions in office improves chances of reselection. The effect increases when the allocation is more selective, and when the prior uncertainty around candidacies is high. The study thus proposes a new approach to the relationship between national parties and transnational groups in the EP. It also suggests venues for research on parliamentary politics and candidate selection in general.

Ten-minute chat.

Richard Chamings stood as a parliamentary candidate for the UK Independence Party in the general election last May. Born in Devon, he graduated from Edinburgh, and is a companion animal vet at White House Vets in Malvern, which he established in 1985.

Parliamentary candidate selection in the Conservative Party: The meaning of reform for party members and membership parties

Parliamentary candidate selection reform was fundamental to the Conservative Party’s organisational renewal, but local autonomy was always a potential obstacle. In the context of a falling membership, the leadership took action. Hence, this article addresses three questions. Firstly, it examines how power was utilised for the purpose of dismantling local autonomy in parliamentary candidate selection. Secondly, it discusses the implications of reform for party members. Thirdly, it assesses what the research findings mean for the notion of ‘membership party’ and the models that purport to explain party organisation. A qualitative research design was adopted that focused upon local activists and officials. The conclusion points towards a network approach to party organisation that projects local identity as the emerging organisational model. The research also provides an insight into how the Conservative Party leadership is managing its declining membership base.

Interpreting the Instrument of Government: Objections to the 1654 Election in the Isle of Ely*

Following the 1654 elections, the first to be held after the imposition of the Instrument of Government, petitions of complaint were presented by voters from various constituencies to Cromwell and his council. Most of the petitions were investigated, some MPs being subsequently barred from taking their seats, but only one was excluded on the grounds of immorality: George Glapthorne, an MP for the Isle of Ely. This re-examination of his case indicates that Glapthorne, an unpopular local figure because of his involvement in drainage and enclosure, had been the subject of a successful smear campaign. The Instrument of Government had redefined the franchise, which, it has been argued, decreased the size of the electorate. Annexed to the petition presented by voters in the Isle was a list of 124 men who had been physically prevented from entering the polling hall. This list reveals the presence of Walloon settlers in the Isle; local records indicate that such men qualified for the new franchise because they were leasing fertile, drained land in the Fens, thus increasing the electorate in that area. By considering the local context of a disputed election, this study adds to the debate concerning the interpretation of the Instrument of Government in terms of the eligibility, not only of a parliamentary candidate, but also of voters.

In Search of ‘Honorable’ Membership: Parliamentary Primaries and Candidate Selection in Ghana

With the increasing consolidation of her democracy, Ghana has, once again, become a cause for celebration and a source of pride in Africa. This newfound status as the bellwether state of African democracy makes Ghana ripe for a critical analysis of her democratic institutions. This article places the handling of parliamentary primaries by the two leading political parties in Ghana – the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) – under the microscope for closer scrutiny. The article interrogates the nature of these primaries, the procedures that govern their conduct, the factors that determine whether or not they are held, and the extent to which these parliamentary primaries have satisfied or deviated from democratic norms. It concludes that, while tremendous progress has been made in the candidate selection process by both major parties, there is plenty of room for improvement to ensure that the process is sufficiently empowering of voters in the constituencies and, hence, genuinely democratic.

The state of e-elections

As we consider the general election battle in the UK, are there ways that technology can improve the way we conduct elections? James Oates, a former British Parliamentary candidate, reports from Estonia on how they do things.

The looks of a winner: Beauty and electoral success

We study the role of beauty in politics using candidate photos that figured prominently in electoral campaigns. Our investigation is based on visual assessments of 1929 Finnish political candidates from 10,011 respondents (of which 3708 were Finnish). As Finland has a proportional electoral system, we are able to compare the electoral success of non-incumbent candidates representing the same party. An increase in our measure of beauty by one standard deviation is associated with an increase of 20% in the number of votes for the average non-incumbent parliamentary candidate. The relationship is unaffected by including education and occupation as control variables and withstands several other robustness checks.

Electoral Guerrilla Theatre: Radical Ridicule and Social Movements (review)

Reviewed by: Electoral Guerrilla Theatre: Radical Ridicule and Social Movements Susanne Shawyer Electoral Guerrilla Theatre: Radical Ridicule and Social Movements. By L. M. Bogad . New York: Routledge, 2005; pp. xii + 235. $33.95 paper. Bombarded by the ever-increasing possibilities of personal communication and information media, today's activists continually search for new and effective methods of communication. Electoral Guerrilla Theatre: Radical Ridicule and Social Movements offers a thorough description of one recent activist technique and arrives as a timely intervention in our current media-saturated political culture. L. M. Bogad asks how social movements combine live performance with guerrilla tactics in an effort to find agency in the electoral system. How can parody and irony invigorate marginalized counterpublics and make voting more meaningful? He argues that the use of comedic performance forms to disrupt and critique the electoral system of modern democracies is an understudied topic and so sets out to define this activist performance tactic. Electoral Guerrilla Theatre contributes to the wider conversation about performance and politics by opening up a space for discussion of the problems and pleasures of this emerging performance form. Bogad defines "electoral guerrilla theatre" as "an ambivalent, hybrid measure that merges the traditions and techniques of 'third-party' electoral intervention with grassroots direct action and performative disruption" (3). Participants hail from the political margins: they are leftists, anarchists, environmentalists, and LGBT activists who lack the power and resources to participate in the electoral system as legitimate candidates. Instead, they use "the aesthetics of camp, agit-prop theatre, and the stand-up routine to undermine the legitimacy of their opponents and sometimes the [End Page 153] very electoral system in which they are operating" (2). Although the concept of the electoral guerrilla seems oxymoronic, Bogad carefully explains that this contradiction is representative of dual goals: electoral guerrilla theatre works within the system to democratize electoral politics and also reaches beyond established structures to call marginalized groups to action. Faced with a wide range of literature on activism, street demonstration, and political performance, Bogad wisely concentrates on activist performance as electoral campaign. The book is structured around three case studies, one each from the Netherlands, the United States, and Australia. Each chapter addresses one example and follows the same basic organization: Bogad establishes the context of the local electoral system and the history of the performer(s) before describing several performance events and investigating their efficacy. Throughout the book, he draws on Mikhail Bakhtin's notion of the carnivalesque to position elections as ritual sites ripe for disruption by resistant voices. Because the ritual nature of elections can hide unmarked assumptions about race, gender, sexuality, and class, Bogad also relies on Bertolt Brecht's concept of Verfremdungseffekt, or alienation, to demonstrate how electoral guerrillas, by means of irony and parody, point out these unspoken assumptions. Chapter 1 follows the guerrilla street actions of the Kabouters (or Gnomes) in municipal elections in Amsterdam in the early 1970s. This eco-anarchist counterculture group engaged in public pranks like planting trees on sidewalks, occupying buildings, and setting fire to a municipal statue. The second chapter investigates the 1992 presidential campaign of drag queen Miss Joan JettBlakk. Backed by the Queen Nation / Chicago organization, JettBlakk used camp aesthetics in speeches, interviews, song, and parades to promote her working-class, queer-friendly politics. Chapter 3 explores the 1998 campaign of Australian drag character Pauline Pantsdown against right-wing parliamentary candidate Pauline Hanson. Using digital sound sampling, lip-synching, and live performance, Pantsdown parodied Hanson at the parliamentarian's campaign events. Like JettBlakk and the Kabouters, Pantsdown disrupted legitimate political events with comedic live performance and relied on media coverage to inspire action at the polls. Together, these three examples successfully make the case for electoral guerrilla theatre as an efficacious activist technique. Some Kabouters were elected to the Amsterdam city council, and Pantsdown's unrelenting parody of Hanson distracted the politician from her campaign. But these examples also reveal a key problem with electoral guerrilla theatre: the difficulty of remaining disruptive and retaining a guerrilla sensibility in the face of the pervasive power of the electoral system. Kabouters who won city council seats were unable to sustain their ludic energies...