When Populism Goes Local: An Analysis of Populist Party Manifestos in Czech Local Elections (2018–2022)

In recent years, the study of populist parties has increasingly focused on their activities at the local level. Existing literature highlights that local governments provide fertile ground for populist demands, particularly for technocratic populism. Paxton (2020) argues that local governance offers the most likely context for implementing core populist demands, as it expands the opportunity to emphasize rhetoric defining ‘the people’ and advocating for their authority over elected representatives. However, current research primarily examines populist parties in local government, leaving electoral manifestos relatively underexplored. This study addresses that gap by analyzing over 500 electoral manifestos from local elections in the Czech Republic. We investigate how populist parties (ANO, SPD) frame "the people" and "the elite" and adopt technocratic approaches to local issues. Additionally, we explore how programmatic profiles correlate with contextual characteristics of municipalities, such as size, location (center/periphery), electoral support for these parties in national elections, and personal linkages to regional or national party elites. We hypothesize that populist rhetoric is more pronounced in larger, peripheral municipalities and when candidate lists include MPs or members of regional or national party leadership. For radical right populist parties, we also anticipate stronger nativist appeals in such contexts.