Rewarding the ‘traitors’? Legislative defection and re-election in Romania

Legislative defection in political systems characterized by party dominance and cartelization is usually seen as damaging the members of parliament's (MPs') careers. Switching legislators does not portray an image of confidence and reliability and the MPs’ re-election is unlikely. Drawing on a dataset that includes all defector MPs in post-communist Romania until 2008, this article indicates that one in five defectors gets re-elected. The quest for explanations focuses on individual and party features. Results indicate that re-election of defectors is a function of the strategic behavior (the choice of the destination party) and the legislative experience of the defector. All these items count against party and legislative activity

Dominance (genetics · General election · Law and economics · Legislature · Parliament · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Primary election · Sociology · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies

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