A professional and politically impartial civil service ensures a high level of competence, integrity and continuity in developing policy advice and implementation that serves the public interest. Exerting political influence in senior staffing decisions can stem from a government’s desire to ensure responsiveness from the civil service by staffing the management with people who share their political views. However, without appropriate levels of transparency and accountability (e.g. open confirmation and vetting by elected officials), high levels of political influence can also result in the spread of patronage and favouritism that may undermine the professionalisation of the civil service. Political influence can also result in higher levels of turnover at senior management levels, which contributes to a lack of management stability and continuity required to oversee long-term improvement and reforms. Furthermore, political influence in civil service staffing decisions may result in a preference for political agents rather than public managers with the skills and competencies necessary to be effective leaders. This can ultimately result in a loss of trust in public institutions if citizens perceive public managers to be appointed based on political affiliation rather than leadership and policy competence.