A close congruence between citizens’ views and representatives’ actions is usually regarded as an indication of high quality of representation (Andeweg 2011, 31). As representation is based on a reciprocal relationship between a representative and his/her constituency (Castiglione and Warren 2006, 11), a correspondence between citizens’ expectations and MPs’ own role perceptions is particularly relevant. In order to form a comprehensive picture of the representational relationship, normative considerations need to be empirically tested. While there are several investigations of MPs’ views on their representational roles (e.g. Esaiasson 2000; Katz 1997, Studlar and McAllister 1996) and a few analyses from a voter perspective (Bengtsson and Wass 2010, 2011; Carman 2006, 2007; Lefebure and Rozenberg 2011; Méndez-Lago and Martínez 2002), studies of congruence between these views have been extremely scarce (Kornberg et al. 1980; Méndez-Lago and Martínez 2002). Based on the Finnish national election study 2011 (n=1,323), the Finnish candidate study (n=app. 900) and the Finnish parliamentary study 2010–2011 (n=app. 80), we first systematically compare the role preferences between candidates, elected representatives and citizens, both in terms of style and focus of representation (Eulau et al. 1959). Second, these perceptions are associated with sociodemographic and socioeconomic attributes and contextual factors which are expected to account for preference variations (Mansbridge 2011, 626), and the level of congruence between non-elected and elected candidates and citizens.
