<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><xml><records><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="6.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>47</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Chadjipadelis, Theodore</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Parties, Candidates, Issues: electoral competition revisited</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">1st European Conference on Comparative Electoral Research</style></secondary-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">electoral competition</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Proximity coefficients</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2011</style></year></dates><urls><related-urls><url><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">http://true-european-voter.eu/sites/default/files/Parties, Candidates, Issues, 01122011.pdf</style></url></related-urls></urls><pub-location><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Sofia</style></pub-location><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Parties, Candidates, Issues: electoral competition revisited

The partisan competition is part of the operation of political parties and issues ranging from ideology to public policy choices. The political platforms of parties and the selection of their candidates compose dimensions of electoral competition and used by political parties to enhance or maintain their position in the electoral process. This analysis examines the dynamics and peculiarities of the electoral competition and partisan strategies under the influence in shaping the opinions of citizens.

The theoretical and methodological approach is based on the triangular interaction approach of electoral competition. A central research question is to study the similarities and dissimilarities as well as the interdependencies and interactions within this triangular approach across different levels of elections and over time and to evaluate, analyze and interpret them towards a unified approach in voting behaviour.

These factors however do not only have independent main effects. Thus, their relationship can be represented in an interacting system of axes where each axis with each other forming an angle. In the case of representation using only main effects, the position of every citizen could be described by defining a point level with the main effects, while the area of intersection of these levels would set the area which is defined as &quot;public opinion&quot;. This approach generalizes the approach of one-dimensional mapping description (such as one-dimensional representation of the axis &quot;Right-Left&quot; has been introduced by Downs). Correspondingly, Nolan proposes two-dimensional imaging at two lines adding to the axis of the economic dimension axis &quot;authoritarian-liberal.&quot;

To simplify the above we propose a schematic representation of the relationship between the three main factors, with a triangle representing the tops of each one of the factors and their relationship to the corresponding side of the triangle. In this representation, each vertex can be projected on the opposite side, turning a three-dimensional problem in two-dimensional, practically connecting each vertex (actor) when interacting with the other two vertices.

We concern with the study of the three vertices of the triangle (parties, persons, themes) and their interactions. This relationship (and the political competition) develops also during the electoral cycle with reference to issues of functioning of institutions, powers of intervention of formal and informal collective political subjects (parties, pressure groups, factions, horizontal and vertical organizations). The analysis and presentation are based in  the data collected (about 30.000 people) in the “electronic voting consultant” (VAA)  used in regional elections in 2010 in Greece.
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