It takes a whole (wo)man: the effect of holding multiple offices on the pledge fulfilment work of party ministers

Party ministers are powerful delegates of their parties in executive offices. As such, they are expected to work for their principals and secure the fulfilment of their party pledges. The previous studies, however, showed that not all ministers are the same and their personal characteristics, such as partisanship or previous political experience play role in the effectiveness of ministers to fulfil their party pledges. This paper adds new variables into the study of the impact of elite characteristics on party pledge fulfilment. I argue that the ministerial work takes a lot of time and attention of ministers, and therefore, if ministers simmultaneously deal with additional political work and hold multiple offices, this likely leads to their worse performance at the ministry and lower level of their party pledge fulfilment. This basic relationship, however, does not necessarily mean if the ministers hold positions in the parliamentary committees that are related to their portfolio. If ministers are members of related parliamentary committees, they can take the opportunity to influence the other members of the committee especially when the ministerial law proposals are discused. As well, if ministers serve within the party leadership, they can use their intra-party authority and position within the coalition on the behalf of their party. The expectations are tested on the joint dataset of party pledges and ministerial characteristics in three governments in the Czech Republic (formed after 2007, 2010, 2013). The effect of simultaneous holding of political positions within party leadership, local and regional level, and seats in ministry-related and non-related parliamentary committees on party pledge fulfilment is tested with the use of binary logistic regression. The paper will add new information into the study of how party elites influence party mandate fulfilment.