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How Second Order Are Local Elections? Voting Motives and Party Preferences in Belgian Municipal Elections

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  • Sofie Marien
  • Ruth Dassonneville
  • Marc Hooghe

Abstract

A defining characteristic of second-order elections is that voters base their decision on considerations that were developed for a different policy level. Therefore, this kind of elections does not contribute to the quality of democratic representation. Municipal elections are often considered as second-order elections. In this article, we use data from an exit poll (n = 4,591) held during the 2012 municipal elections in Belgium. Results suggest that although voters predominantly invoke local aspects as determining their vote choice, still three-quarters votes for the same party locally as for federal elections. Among voters who deviate from their federal party preference, knowing local candidates and concern about local policy issues are the main sources of deviation. The conclusion therefore is that local candidates do make a difference and contribute strongly to the salience of electoral decisions on the local level.

Suggested Citation

  • Sofie Marien & Ruth Dassonneville & Marc Hooghe, 2015. "How Second Order Are Local Elections? Voting Motives and Party Preferences in Belgian Municipal Elections," Local Government Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(6), pages 898-916, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:flgsxx:v:41:y:2015:i:6:p:898-916
    DOI: 10.1080/03003930.2015.1048230
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    Cited by:

    1. Van Oijstaeijen, Wito & Van Passel, Steven & Back, Phil & Cools, Jan, 2022. "The politics of green infrastructure: A discrete choice experiment with Flemish local decision-makers," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    2. David García-García & José Manuel Trujillo, 2023. "Emotions of Candidates on Twitter in the 2023 Seville City Council Election: A Second-Order Campaign?," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-19, October.
    3. Fiedler, Charlotte & Mross, Karina & Berg, Anna & Bhattarai, Prakash & Drees, Dorothea & Kornprobst, Tim & Leibbrandt, Alexandra & Liegmann, Philipp & Riebsamen, Maleen, 2022. "What role do local elections play for societal peace in Nepal? Evidence from post-conflict Nepal," IDOS Discussion Papers 4/2022, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    4. Bruno Carvalho & Claudia Custodio & Benny Geys & Diogo Mendes & Susana Peralta, 2020. "Information, Perceptions, and Electoral Behaviour of Young Voters: A Randomised Controlled Experiment," Working Papers ECARES 2020-14, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    5. Cohle, Zachary & Ortega, Alberto, 2022. "Life of the party: The polarizing effect of foreign direct investment," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    6. Dorian Alt & Erik Brandes & David Nonhoff, 2023. "First Order for some. How Different Forms of Politicization Motivated Voters in the 2019 European Parliamentary Election," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(2), pages 362-378, March.

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