Legislative Candidate Selection and Constituency Service in Ghana

A key feature of majoritarian electoral systems is the abundance of safe seats, heightening the importance of intra-party candidate selection. In such systems, since re-selection is invariably re-election, actual competition for parliamentary seats happen within instead of between parties. Yet despite the pivotal role party elites play in selecting legislators, and the adoption of party primaries in many democracies in Africa, we know only little, both theoretically and empirically, about these selectorates, their composition and preferences as well as the aspects of MPs’ work, they reward. Again, explanations that underpin their preferences remain a black box. Drawing on interviews with MPs and local party delegates in Ghana – one of Africa’s most successful democracies, as well as party documents and press data, the paper argues that party elites prefer candidates who deliver targeted patronage, demonstrate productivity in the parliamentary arena and deliver service to constituents. However, there are variations along the dimensions of constituency-specific electoral vulnerability and the party’s status in government. Success in candidate selection within political parties in power is hinged on party loyalty, demonstrable by the provision of targeted patronage to core party elites at the grassroots. Conversely, elites in opposition parties return MPs who rather demonstrate legislative productivity. In electorally competitive constituencies, however, internal party selection focuses on active constituency service beyond elite loyalty.