Intra-party ideological heterogeneity: Are candidates agents of their parties?

Party cohesion is a necessary condition for parties functioning as a mechanism of democratic accountability. However, if candidates represent a wide range of policy views, the concept of programmatic party representation may be weakened. This work analyses the extent to which candidates may be considered agents of their parties by focusing on the degree of intra-party ideological heterogeneity, i.e., the extent to which candidates\u2019 preferences diverge from the party line. In particular, we focus on the features that may account for variations in candidates\u2019 accountability to their own party by examining the effects of electoral rules, candidates\u2019 selection methods and electoral vulnerability. To assess our theoretical claims, we use data from the Comparative Candidates Survey. Overall, we find that candidate pools show a remarkable degree of policy preferences\u2019 homogeneity. Our results also show that different voting systems encourage candidates to distinguish themselves ideologically or, alternatively, to stick to the party line