Rewarding Some, But Not All? The Selectoral Consequences of Parliamentary Activity for Newcomers and Experienced MPs in Belgium (1995–2019)

This article examines whether political parties reward the parliamentary activity of members of parliament (MPs) through candidate selection processes. Previous research on this question provides mixed evidence. Moreover, studies often disregard potentially unequal effects among different kinds of MPs. Using new data on all members of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives between 1995 and 2019 (N = 1108), this contribution shows that several types of parliamentary activity indeed matter both for MPs’ general renomination as well as for their claim to realistic list positions. Furthermore, our study provides evidence that parliamentary activity matters more for the reselection of newcomers than for experienced MPs.