Party democracy without participants? Candidate nomination at local level

Political parties play a crucial role in recruiting and nominating candidates for local elections, and in this article two questions are raised concerning that role in local nomination processes: How are these nomination processes organised, and what criteria are used by the selectors? In local elections, voters have the opportunity to elect their local political leaders. However, the election is only the final step in a long recruitment process dominated by the political parties. Prior to this, both self-selection among potential candidates and selection by political parties have narrowed down the pool of candidates among whom the voters are eventually entitled to choose. Particularly important for understanding the outcomes of recruitment is the process of nomination. Our study is based on interviews with nomination committee leaders in 28 local parties located in four different municipalities. We observe nomination processes that are strikingly similar from one party to the next, and dominated by standard operating procedures. Furthermore, the political parties apply numerous criteria in their selection. The criteria however reflect general norms and expectations for the final list. These concern representativeness, both social and substantive, and that the list must appeal to all segments of the electorate. The most important in selection criterion tion is that candidates express an interest in local politics, but in order to compose a list with broad voter appeal, the parties are obliged to consider the social representativeness of a list.