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Bringing voters back in leader selection: the open primaries of the Italian Democratic Party

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 January 2016

Antonella Seddone  and
Fulvio Venturino
Antonella Seddone*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di Culture, Politica e Società, University of Turin, Italy;
Fulvio Venturino*
Affiliation:
Dipartimento di storia beni culturali e territorio, University of Cagliari, Italy
*
∗Corresponding authors. Email: antonella.seddone@unito.it
∗Corresponding authors. Email: fventurino@unica.it
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Abstract

According to the penalty hypothesis, primaries are considered damaging for parties because of the social and political distinctiveness of the electorate, who usually choose unpalatable candidates for the median voter in general elections. This article deals with two leader selections organised by the Italian Partito Democratico (PD) in 2007 and 2009. Using survey data, voters' characteristics in the two primaries relating to the 2008 parliamentary elections are contrasted in order to find out the differences between the two selectorates and the general electorate. Then, the attitudes of the winners' and losers' supporters in primary elections are compared. Although not definitive, the results contradict the primary penalty thesis. Even if the data point out some relevant differences between selectors and electors, the losers' supporters do not seem to be demobilised by the primary results.

Keywords

primary electionsleader selectionpolitical partieselectoral behaviourItalian politics
Type
Contexts and Debates
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , August 2013 , pp. 303 - 318
Copyright
Copyright © Association for the study of Modern Italy 

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