Incumbency advantage and candidate characteristics in open-list proportional representation systems: Evidence from Indonesia

• Main Authors: DETTMAN, Sebastian Carl, PEPINSKY, Thomas B., PIERSKALLA, Jan H.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2017
• Subjects: Candidate characteristics; Incumbency advantage; Indonesia; Open list proportional representation; Asian Studies; Political Science
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3124; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4381/viewcontent/Incumbency_advantage_and_candidate_characteristics_av.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

We use evidence from Indonesia's April 2014 legislative elections to study the relationship between incumbency, list position, candidate characteristics, and electoral success in open-list PR systems. Contrary to a recent literature identifying an incumbency disadvantage in other large developing democracies, we identify a consistent personal incumbency advantage in Indonesia. However, we argue that this advantage is mediated by party choices over how incumbents and newcomers are ranked on party lists, a key heuristic for voters in low-information electoral environments such as Indonesia.