In this study, we investigate national parties’ strategic choices in Israeli local elections, utilizing a dataset of 3,737 electoral lists across 200 municipalities over three election cycles (2013-2024). Employing label coding and multilevel analysis, we reveal that municipality size, previous electoral success, mayoral candidacy, and ruling coalition membership significantly influenced parties’ decisions to compete and their choice of label. Notably, almost 30% of party lists conceal their identity by opting for ‘disguised’ labels. We argue that Israel’s extreme party decline in local politics, characterized by the dominance of independent lists, may foreshadow global trends as national parties withdraw from municipal contests. Our findings highlight the prevalence of disguised party lists, raising questions about voter information, as party labels serve as crucial informational shortcuts. This study contributes to the literature on party strategies and electoral dynamics in multilevel polities by emphasizing label analysis in local elections.
Party Strategies in Local Elections: Insights from Israel / T. Elovits, N. Barnea. - In: SWISS POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW. - ISSN 1424-7755. - (2024), pp. 1-20. [Epub ahead of print] [10.1111/spsr.12622]
Party Strategies in Local Elections: Insights from Israel
T. Elovits
Primo
;
2024
Abstract
In this study, we investigate national parties’ strategic choices in Israeli local elections, utilizing a dataset of 3,737 electoral lists across 200 municipalities over three election cycles (2013-2024). Employing label coding and multilevel analysis, we reveal that municipality size, previous electoral success, mayoral candidacy, and ruling coalition membership significantly influenced parties’ decisions to compete and their choice of label. Notably, almost 30% of party lists conceal their identity by opting for ‘disguised’ labels. We argue that Israel’s extreme party decline in local politics, characterized by the dominance of independent lists, may foreshadow global trends as national parties withdraw from municipal contests. Our findings highlight the prevalence of disguised party lists, raising questions about voter information, as party labels serve as crucial informational shortcuts. This study contributes to the literature on party strategies and electoral dynamics in multilevel polities by emphasizing label analysis in local elections.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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