Quantifying Political Success: Developing Data-Driven Metrics for MPs and Parliamentary Groups

The quantification of political performance is vital for fostering transparency and accountability in democratic systems. This study focuses on developing politically neutral, data-driven metrics to quantify the success of Members of Parliament (MPs) and parliamentary groups in Switzerland. We examine political success as a three-pronged theoretic construct accounting for career-based, repuation-based and policy-based success indicators. These measures are designed to capture the multifaceted roles and contributions of MPs within the unique Swiss political context, marked by its decentralized structure, multi-party system, and collaborative legislative processes. Career-based success metrics assess individual MPs’ progression within their parliamentary roles, including electoral performance, re-election rates, and advancements to leadership positions. Drawing on historical and contemporary data, this measure reflects both short-term achievements and long-term political trajectories. Reputation-based success focuses on social and legislative networks, evaluating MPs' ability to garner cross-party support, collaborate effectively, and sponsor influential legislation. Metrics include cosponsorship ties, citations in debates, and prominence in opinion formation processes. Policy-based success examines MPs' effectiveness in initiating, advancing, and passing legislative proposals, incorporating measures such as voting outcomes, passage rates, and substantive contributions of bills. Finally, group-level success accounts for the collective achievements of parliamentary groups, committees, and other collaborative entities, addressing the inherently cooperative nature of Swiss politics. To ensure robust and scalable measures, our research integrates advanced computational tools, including Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques, named entity recognition, and word embeddings. These methods are applied to both historical and contemporary parliamentary records, which are included within our DemocraSci knowledge graph, which spans over 130 years of legislative data. By utilizing cutting-edge machine learning approaches and domain-specific expertise, we aim at ensuring a high degree of precision in extracting and analyzing success indicators. The measures developed in this paper are designed to be transparent, interpretable, and applicable across temporal and comparative contexts. They allow for simple yet insightful comparisons between MPs and over time, offering a granular view of individual and group contributions to legislative success. Furthermore, these indices address key gaps in existing research by incorporating Swiss-specific elements such as electoral margins, the role of parliamentary initiatives, and the influence of decentralized decision-making processes. Beyond their methodological contributions, these metrics have practical implications for enhancing voter engagement and accountability. By providing voters with clear and objective measures of political performance, the study bridges the gap between complex legislative data and public understanding. For researchers, the framework opens new avenues for cross-national comparisons and longitudinal studies of political performance. In summary, this paper represents a pioneering effort to systematically quantify political success within the Swiss political system. By combining theoretical rigor with computational innovation, this work advances the understanding of legislative effectiveness and its broader societal impacts, laying the foundation for future research and practical applications in political science and public accountability.