The curious stability of candidate selection methods in Belgium in times of crisis

This chapter analyses a ‘negative case’ of change in candidate section. Although one expects the political crisis to trigger the emergence of new parties – and together with them of innovative (inclusive) forms of candidate selection, no major reform of internal party democracy has been observed in Belgium. The last decades have witnessed the rise of new parties, but these rather tend to select their candidates in more exclusive and centralised ways over the years. Besides, no major reshuffling in candidate selection has occurred among the traditional parties, despite the crisis context. The chapter relies on several waves of candidate surveys, but also on interviews with party officials and party statutes. It seeks to offer an explanation of this curious case where the crisis did not cause significant changes in the way political parties select their candidates