Tag: Primaries
The 2016 election is seeing the return of the ‘Paranoid Style’ in American politics
The 2016 primary season has seen Donald Trump gain traction with Republican voters through nativist rhetoric. While many see Trump’s extremist campaigning as a new low in American political discourse, Ron Pruessen, using the work of Richard Hofstadter, reminds us that such apocalyptic visions from politicians are really nothing new. He argues that crises over […]
The US presidential primary system is no way to run a democracy
Following the drama of last week’s Iowa caucuses, Michael Patrick Cullinane argues the primary system has a deeply insidious effect on America’s democracy and writes that there are obvious changes, such as grouping states in large blocs and standardising ballot processes across states, which could significantly improve the selection process. Similar PostsThe 2016 election is seeing the return of the […]
Three reforms that would be more effective than adding a ‘None of the above’ option to ballot papers
Should voters be allowed to select ‘None of the above’ at elections, as proposed recently on Democratic Audit? In this post, Richard Berry argues that this would represent only a superficial change to the electoral process. He suggests that changing the electoral system, introducing primaries and providing better support for candidates would be more effective ways […]
Open primaries do little to encourage candidate moderation
Many blame the ongoing polarisation of Congress on the system of primary election that often rewards the most extreme candidates on either side. But are “open” primaries, where more than just regular partisans can participate the solution to this polarisation? Using data from two decades of state-level experimentation with primary laws, Eric McGhee finds that primary races […]
Resistance to all-women shortlists in South Wales has a complex set of causes beyond gender politics, but that doesn’t make it right
The decision by the Labour Party to use an all-women shortlist to select its candidate to replace Ann Clywd MP in Cynon Valley has been opposed by local party members. Richard Berry finds echoes of a similar controversy in the Welsh valleys ahead of the 2005 election, where local voters defied the party’s wishes in […]
The Latin American experience suggests primary elections can be effective but not a magic recipe for party democratisation
Both Labour and the Conservatives have been experimenting with primary elections to select candidates, as a means of reconnecting their parties with the electorate at a time of diminishing membership levels. There are lessons to be learned from countries around the world that use primaries. In this post, Flavia Freidenberg and Julia Pomares discuss the experience of Latin […]
The Conservatives’ disastrous primary election in South East Cambridgeshire should not deter other local parties from using primaries
The Conservatives recently selected Lucy Frazer as their parliamentary candidate for South East Cambridgeshire following a mishandled primary election that, bizarrely, mirrored the plot of a Jeffrey Archer novel. Chris Game looks back on the episode in the context of the David Cameron’s efforts to introduce primaries to select candidates across the party, urging him and […]
The Polish and Romanian experiences show that party elites need to loosen control when introducing primary elections to select candidates
The Conservatives experimented with primaries at the 2010 general election, and Ed Miliband has recently proposed their wider introduction to choose Labour Party candidates. Sergiu Gherghina and Michal Radecki believe primary elections can bring significant benefits for parties and democracy as a whole, but warn that the UK needs to avoid mistakes made in Poland and Romania […]
Tomorrow’s party: a bold new approach and meaningful engagement are required
Political parties are an indispensable part of any functioning democracy, essential for aggregating political demands and educating voters about policies. But the public have seldom thought less of them, with a majority of voters considering them corrupt. The Electoral Reform Society have recognised this, and launched a new project to look at what the party of the […]
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