Ideological disagrement in the 2014 European election: self-placement and party positioning according to Romanian candidates

Abstract

The left-right axis is often used to allow candidates, political parties and voters to express policy preferences, argue for particular positions, or justify their way of action. While earlier research focused extensively on party positions and voters' alignment or self-placement, little attention has been paid to the self-placement of candidates in relation to that of their parties. In its attempt to fill such an empirical void, this article analyzes the ideological agreement between subjective positioning of Romanian candidates and political parties on the left-right axis in the most recent European election. Moreover, it tries to identify whether party affiliation (left vs. right), age of the candidates, position on the list and experience in the party make a difference in the different placement. This exploratory study uses data from a candidate survey conducted during the electoral campaign in April-May 2014.