In the past regional elections were often studied by making use of the second-order election (SOE) theory (e.g. Pallarés & Keating 2003). But recent empirical research (Schakel & Jefferey 2013) shows that the predictions of SOE do not hold for most of the regional elections. As a result, the a-priori assumption that regional elections are SOE comes under pressure. Some scholars (Swenden & Maddens 2009; Dandoy 2013) even argue that national elections have become subordinate to regional elections. In this paper we want to contribute to this discussion. Not by looking at the voting behavior, but by analyzing the behavior of the politicians.
The campaign-tweets of the candidates for the upcoming simultaneous elections in Belgium (May 2014) will be analyzed. We will try to assess whether candidates for the regional parliaments talk about regional competences in their campaign-tweets and national candidates about national competences? Or are both mixed up?
