Incumbent

As an incumbent is referred to the holder of a public office, especially an elective office.

In democratic elections is usually assumed that the incumbent an advantage of incumbency (eg Registrar bonus) has, that is, the acceptance of his person and / or his party is greater than if he does not innehätte the office. This is metaphorically likened to a home game in sports.

Even the optional legal privileges of the incumbent are sometimes quite large depending on the country and ingested position. In some countries, for example in the UK, the Prime Minister may determine the time of choosing. This offers the possibility to establish a favorable election date. The mass media contribute to an advantage of the incumbent at: This has more opportunities to be present with his official acts in the media, and is therefore usually much better known than its competitors. Usually he can actually use some of the resources of his office during the election campaign.

In the choice of research could be shown that in fact positively impact the advantages of incumbent status on the vote share of the incumbent. In Germany receives both the incumbent of a constituency and his party - as part of the second vote share - an increase in votes ( incumbent Bonus ) from about 1 to 1.5 percentage points.