Uncontested Seats and the Evolution of Party Competition

Campbell Sharman

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Representative democracy presumes competitive elections at which voters have a choice of candidates. This is consistent with the current nature of electoral campaigning, which is system-wide and embraces every opportunity for partisan competition. From this perspective, uncontested seats in parliamentary systems are associated with earlier stages of representative government before modern parties emerged. Yet a survey of Australian state and federal general elections since 1890 shows that uncontested seats persisted in most systems well after the establishment of the current party system and, in two states, until the 1980s. In examining various explanations for the existence of uncontested seats in parliamentary systems, the article finds that the nature of the electoral system, the characteristics of the party system and party organization are key factors. Given a single-member district electoral system, the pattern of uncontested seats can be used as an indicator of the evolution of the party system and the structure of partisan competition.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)679-702
JournalParty Politics
Volume9
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2003

Fingerprint

party system
electoral system
election
party organization
representative democracy
candidacy
district

Cite this

Sharman, Campbell. / Uncontested Seats and the Evolution of Party Competition. In: Party Politics. 2003 ; Vol. 9, No. 6. pp. 679-702.
@article{d04d33fa59a44a428b885ee401240558,
title = "Uncontested Seats and the Evolution of Party Competition",
abstract = "Representative democracy presumes competitive elections at which voters have a choice of candidates. This is consistent with the current nature of electoral campaigning, which is system-wide and embraces every opportunity for partisan competition. From this perspective, uncontested seats in parliamentary systems are associated with earlier stages of representative government before modern parties emerged. Yet a survey of Australian state and federal general elections since 1890 shows that uncontested seats persisted in most systems well after the establishment of the current party system and, in two states, until the 1980s. In examining various explanations for the existence of uncontested seats in parliamentary systems, the article finds that the nature of the electoral system, the characteristics of the party system and party organization are key factors. Given a single-member district electoral system, the pattern of uncontested seats can be used as an indicator of the evolution of the party system and the structure of partisan competition.",
author = "Campbell Sharman",
year = "2003",
doi = "10.1177/13540688030096002",
language = "English",
volume = "9",
pages = "679--702",
journal = "Party Politics",
issn = "1354-0688",
publisher = "SAGE Publications Ltd",
number = "6",

}

Sharman, C 2003, 'Uncontested Seats and the Evolution of Party Competition' Party Politics, vol. 9, no. 6, pp. 679-702. https://doi.org/10.1177/13540688030096002

Uncontested Seats and the Evolution of Party Competition. / Sharman, Campbell.

In: Party Politics, Vol. 9, No. 6, 2003, p. 679-702.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

TY - JOUR

T1 - Uncontested Seats and the Evolution of Party Competition

AU - Sharman, Campbell

PY - 2003

Y1 - 2003

N2 - Representative democracy presumes competitive elections at which voters have a choice of candidates. This is consistent with the current nature of electoral campaigning, which is system-wide and embraces every opportunity for partisan competition. From this perspective, uncontested seats in parliamentary systems are associated with earlier stages of representative government before modern parties emerged. Yet a survey of Australian state and federal general elections since 1890 shows that uncontested seats persisted in most systems well after the establishment of the current party system and, in two states, until the 1980s. In examining various explanations for the existence of uncontested seats in parliamentary systems, the article finds that the nature of the electoral system, the characteristics of the party system and party organization are key factors. Given a single-member district electoral system, the pattern of uncontested seats can be used as an indicator of the evolution of the party system and the structure of partisan competition.

AB - Representative democracy presumes competitive elections at which voters have a choice of candidates. This is consistent with the current nature of electoral campaigning, which is system-wide and embraces every opportunity for partisan competition. From this perspective, uncontested seats in parliamentary systems are associated with earlier stages of representative government before modern parties emerged. Yet a survey of Australian state and federal general elections since 1890 shows that uncontested seats persisted in most systems well after the establishment of the current party system and, in two states, until the 1980s. In examining various explanations for the existence of uncontested seats in parliamentary systems, the article finds that the nature of the electoral system, the characteristics of the party system and party organization are key factors. Given a single-member district electoral system, the pattern of uncontested seats can be used as an indicator of the evolution of the party system and the structure of partisan competition.

U2 - 10.1177/13540688030096002

DO - 10.1177/13540688030096002

M3 - Article

VL - 9

SP - 679

EP - 702

JO - Party Politics

JF - Party Politics

SN - 1354-0688

IS - 6

ER -

Sharman C. Uncontested Seats and the Evolution of Party Competition. Party Politics. 2003;9(6):679-702. https://doi.org/10.1177/13540688030096002

Access to Document