ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an analysis of how much campaign personalisation is going on, where and why. Three elements of personal vote-seeking strategies are evaluated: campaign focus, campaign means and local constituency activities. We find that the level of institutional incentives for a personal vote is an important predictor of personalised campaigning, but also candidate-related features are important. Apart from the visibility of the candidate, the perception of electoral success and campaign intensity are strongly related to all three types of personalised campaigning. We conclude that institutional features matter but that there is still substantial heterogeneity due to candidate-related factors in one and the same electoral system. Personalised campaigning is not only incentivised by electoral systems but also the result of candidates’ choices.
