This study asks how parties in presidential systems choose vice-presidential running mates and what trade-offs those choices reflect. It introduces a Vice-Presidential Candidate Profile Index (VPCPI) to characterize running-mate selections and uses that index to assess selection strategies in Brazil after redemocratization. The central contribution is a descriptive tool (the VPCPI) and an empirical application that evaluates whether tickets pick successors mainly to win votes, to improve governing capacity, or to do both.
Data and methods
The paper proposes the Vice-Presidential Candidate Profile Index (VPCPI) as a systematic measure to analyze running-mate selection strategies. The abstract indicates the index is applied to Brazil’s post-redemocratization period; it does not specify the exact data sources, coding procedures or statistical techniques in the abstract itself.
Vice-Presidential Candidate Profile Index (VPCPI) application to Brazil
Main findings
Using the VPCPI, the author reports that selection strategies in Brazil were hybrid: parties nominated running mates who could both broaden the ticket’s electorate and who had political experience relevant for future governance. The abstract frames this as an empirical description rather than a causal claim and does not provide numerical results or tests.
- The study fills a gap by offering a systematic index to study vice-presidential selection.
- In the Brazilian case, running-mate choices reflected mixed incentives to attract votes and to supply governing capacity.
