Blurred lines between electoral and parliamentary representation: The use of constituency staff among Members of the European Parliament

Abstract

Parliamentarians receive public funding to employ staff in the constituency helping them execute their representative mandate. However, local staff is also an electoral asset. We draw on theories of personal-vote seeking to study local staff as an example of constituency service. Modelling within-individual changes in local-staff size among 1174 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), we find that staff size increases before both European and national elections and more so in candidate-centred systems. This leads us to conclude that - despite a single staff system for all MEPs - EU citizens are represented differently depending on where they elect their members. The attempt to mend EU's democratic deficit by financing members' contact with citizens further implies funding incumbent European candidates and challengers in national campaigns.

Reference

• Hermansen, Silje Synnøve Lyder and Andreja Pegan (2023) “Blurred lines between electoral and parliamentary representation: The use of constituency staff among Members of the European Parliament” European Union Politics, 24 (2), pp 239–263.