So far, there has been little or no discussion as to how performance management influences political life in local governments. However, especially in local governments there are dilemmas. Given that a well-implemented performance management system creates clear performance indicators at a regular basis, it should serve as the ideal basis for political prioritization. However, in reality it takes away power from politicians by making politics technocratic and evidence-based, leaving little room for personal judgement. And the management fears that the politicians could be interfering in the daily running of the operations. The dilemma is pointing out the need for a discussion as to how involved the political level should become with performance management.#PerformanceManagement #2011Conference #Publicpolicy