Articles

Het electorale succes van etnische minderheden in Brussel : de rol van kiezers en partijen

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Abstract

European democracies have grown ethnically diverse in the recent years. Yet, ethnic minorities remain underrepresented in polities. Despite the theoretica! argument asserting that ethnic minorities should perform better in systems allowing voters to cast intra party preferences, empirica! studies bring mixed results. In particular, scholars highlight the role of both parties and voters in explaining the electoral success or failure of ethnic minority candidates. Using data on regional elections between 1995 and 2014 in Brussels, our study shows that even though parties have made gradual efforts to include ethnic minorities on their lists, voters appear to be an important force behind the election of ethnic minorities. We find variations according to party ideology, with socialist and - to a lesser extent - Christian democratie candidates benefiting the most from preferential voting. However, the positive impact of preference votes seems to decrease over tim e, as parties themselves become more inclusive and tend to allocate more realistic positions to their ethnic minority candidates in recent elections.

How to Cite:

Janssen, C., Dandoy, R. & Erzeel, S., (2017) “Het electorale succes van etnische minderheden in Brussel : de rol van kiezers en partijen”, Res Publica 59(4), 389-412.