Preventing Defection through Primary Elections: Evidence from South Korea

• In Event: Causes and Consequences of Variability in Localized Election Administration

Abstract

When do parties adopt primary elections? Despite the benefit to party leaders from nominating candidates for elections internally, party leaders in numerous countries increasingly turn the decision over to voters and use primaries to select candidates. By utilizing the rich variation in South Korea’s legislative elections, where nomination methods differ by district, year, and party, I examine when parties use primaries over direct appointments. I argue that party leaders use primaries in order to avoid the defection of unselected applicants, which is crucial in winning elections. By holding primaries, parties can effectively monopolize applicants' time and effort. I take a multi-method approach to test this argument. An original dataset on legislative elections in South Korea from 2012 to 2020 is used for an empirical analysis. I also provide evidence from elite-level interviews with South Korean legislators.

Author

• Heewon Yoon, Columbia University