WHERE IS THE DIFFERENCE? THE PROFILE OF THE ROMANIAN CANDIDATES FOR THE 2009 EUROPEAN ELECTIONS

• Main Authors: Sergiu Gherghina, Mihail Chiru
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: European Institute of Romania 2009-12-01
• Series: Romanian Journal of European Affairs
• Subjects: MEPs; professionalization; political profile; patterns of recruitment; eligibility
• Online Access: http://www.ier.ro/documente/rjea_vol9_no4/RJEA_2009_vol._9_no_4_Where_is_the_Difference_The_Profile_of_the_Romanian_Candidates_for_the_2009_European_Elections_.pdf
• ISSN: 1582-8271; 1841-4273

Drawing on a complex dataset that includes the age, gender, education, public experience, party career, wealth, and the occupational background of all 215 candidates proposed by the five Romanian parties winning seats in the 2009 EP elections, this article devises an analytical framework for the candidates’ profiles. The study is valuable for those researching the professionalization of the EP along the convergence thesis, and for the legislative recruitment scholars interested in candidates’ qualities targeted by selectorates in a blocked-list PR setting, i.e., the significant differences between candidates receiving an eligible place and the rest. Our findings reflect the importance given by parties to previous experience in the EP and to wealth/capacity to contribute to the campaign costs and, at the same time, they emphasize the ambivalent educational trajectories of the candidates and the dominance on the lists of male politicians.