Candidate Selection Strategies and Diversification of the New Zealand Parliament

• In Event: Institutions and Inclusion (Virtual)

Abstract

Increasingly, political party elites wish to diversify their candidate slates to better reflect the evolving demographic composition of society and to appeal to this changing body of voters. Of course, an intent to include formerly marginalized groups into the political system via candidate selection does not always translate straightforwardly into successful election and thus descriptive representation in the legislature. Intra-party rules and electoral institutions crucially shape representation outcomes, while party selectorates must also accurately anticipate future electoral performance when constructing party lists or moderating local candidate selection. Building on a new dataset of candidates from all main parties in New Zealand parliamentary elections from 1996 to 2020, this paper examines the evolving gender and ethnicity patterns of candidacies over time and across parties. After mapping how and how quickly formerly underrepresented groups (including those of Pacific and Asian ethnic descent) have come to be included in electoral politics, we ask how party elites manage candidate selection and ticket-balancing across the List and Electorate components of the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) electoral system, especially in the face of intra-party competition, ethnic community demands and fluctuating party fortunes in the nationwide vote across electoral cycles. We find evidence of learning over time in parties’ candidate selection strategies, but also ongoing variation in how successfully political parties ‘convert’ diversity in candidate slates into diversity in their set of elected representatives. We find that not only are cross-party differences rooted in intra-party rules and grass-roots organizing, but they also reflect different party-ethnic community relationships and distinct philosophies about the kind of representation ethnic minority candidates should provide.

Authors

• Fiona C. Barker, Victoria University of Wellington

• Sam Crawley, Victoria University of Wellington