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Full-Text Articles in Asian Studies
Incumbency Advantage And Candidate Characteristics In Open-List Proportional Representation Systems: Evidence From Indonesia, Sebastian Carl Dettman, Thomas B. Pepinsky, Jan H. Pierskalla
Incumbency Advantage And Candidate Characteristics In Open-List Proportional Representation Systems: Evidence From Indonesia, Sebastian Carl Dettman, Thomas B. Pepinsky, Jan H. Pierskalla
Research Collection School of Social Sciences
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.