In the realm of democratic representation, a politician’s success depends on their accurate perception of their party’s issue positions. This enables them to represent these positions and shape public perceptions effectively. The GLES Candidate Study 2021 is used to examine the accuracy with which parliamentary candidates perceive their party’s positions on the two central issues: immigration and social welfare. The analysis examines the impact of ideological distance and perceived divergent issue positions between the candidates and their parties. In general, candidates show relatively high accuracy in perceiving their party’s issue positions. Furthermore, candidates who perceive a small distance on the left-right dimension to their party exhibit heightened accuracy, particularly on the immigration issue position. Moreover, candidates who perceive differences between themselves and their party have a more accurate perception of their party’s immigration issue position. These factors, however, do not affect the accuracy of candidates’ perception on social welfare issue position. The findings have important implications for the examination of political elites and public opinion. The article discusses the possibility of politicians misinterpreting their party’s actual issue positions, emphasizing the nuanced nature of political perception in the realm of democratic representation.
