Added, not selected: The limited electoral effectiveness of party elite interventions in candidate selection

An inclusive and decentralized mode of candidate selection may lead to unequal outcomes in terms of descriptive representation. Centralized intervention by party headquarters is often used as a partial remedy, but the ultimate effectiveness of these interventions depends on how well the “added” candidates fare on election day. This article investigates whether there is a difference in electoral performance between candidates who are nominated by a party selection convention and those who are added to the ticket directly by party elites. We focus on the Irish general election of 2020. Ireland is an interesting case, since candidate selection is formally inclusive and decentralized, but in practice party headquarters frequently intervene and add candidates. We hypothesize that added candidates, and especially women-added candidates, are less successful on election day. The results suggest that the expected relationships are strongly driven by differences in other observed candidate characteristics, such as incumbency and/or political experience. In addition, there is evidence that added female candidates struggle to obtain first preferences (under the Single Transferable Vote system) from certain subgroups of voters, surprisingly including strong supporters of gender equality.