This chapter analyzes the processes of candidate selection in Italy for the main political parties facing the 2013 general election. In particular, the authors investigate and evaluate the primary elections organized, in November–December 2012, by the center-left coalition (composed of the Democratic Party, Left Ecology and Freedom, and the Italian Socialist Party) for the selection of the candidate to the office of president of the Council of Ministers. The chapter explores in detail the main issues at the center of the electoral campaign, the candidates involved in the process of selection, the socio-demographic profile of the “selectorate,” the electoral results of the primary elections, and their consequences for the consolidation of the Italian party system.
Search Results
Gianfranco Pasquino and Marco Valbruzzi
Ofer Kenig
The selection methods of party leaders in Israel have gone through a gradual shift during the last 30 years. Like parties in several other democracies (Canada, United Kingdom, Japan), the major Israeli parties have changed their internal distribution of power to give their members a role in candidate and leadership selection. In Israel, as elsewhere, among the reasons for this reform was the desire to reduce the oligarchic tendencies of parties by creating a participatory revolution and by providing the rank-and-file members a chance to make a difference. This study maps the various methods used by Israeli parties for selecting their leaders and asks what the positive and negative consequences of the opening of the selection process are. The first section presents the various methods used by parties for selecting their leaders. The following three sections deal with the gradual process of democratization in leadership selection that occurred in the two major Israeli parties, and in other parties. The final section discusses the consequences of this democratization and tries to assess whether there is an ideal method for selecting party leaders.
Marino De Luca
Several parties throughout the world are democratizing their internal processes. The most notable tools for achieving this aim are the primary elections through which electoral candidates and party leaders are selected. This article seek to analyze these “selections” by using survey data relating to primary elections held in October 2011 by the French Socialist Party. In particular, we make use of survey data to describe extensively some social and political characteristics of the voters and to connect them with the electoral performances of the candidates.
In French Politics, Culture & Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Jun 2014
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 123–142
Jonathan Hopkin
For the parties of the center-left, 2005 was a year of significant progress
toward the objective of wresting the government from Berlusconi’s center-
right coalition. It began with Romano Prodi’s initially uncertain return
to the Italian political stage after his “exile” in Brussels as president of
the European Commission, and familiar divisions—enthusiastically aired
in the media—over how the center-left should be organized and structured
and over the selection of candidates and alliances for the April
regional elections. However, 2005 went on to provide two major boosts
to the center-left: a surprisingly decisive victory in the regional elections,
and an equally decisive outcome to the primary election held to choose a
“premier candidate” for the alliance. Although big questions of organization
and coordination remained unresolved, the center-left finished the
year in a stronger position than at its beginning. After providing a little
background, this chapter will assess the coalition’s progress over the
year and offer some tentative interpretations of the key turning points.
Frédéric Sawicki
few other party renovators tried to pressure the new PS leader, Martine Aubry, to expand the experiment and open primary elections to party sympathizers before the presidential elections. The new system, they argued, would help mobilize new activists
In French Politics, Culture & Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Mar 2016
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 4–10
Suzanne Berger
subsequent elections. 10 In primary elections between 2002 and 2010 Republican voters in these heavily hit districts chose more and more radical Republicans, while local Democratic voters chose more and more radical Democrats; thus the polarization of the
In French Politics, Culture & Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Jun 2017
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 21–31