Constitutional Law. Primary Elections. Discrimination by Political Parties

1932 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 1069
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-110
Author(s):  
Gregory T. Papanikos

This paper examines the primary elections of the PanHellenic Socialist Party (PASOK) which were held on 5th and 12th of December 2021. Six candidates run for the position of the president in the first round and two runners-up in the second. As mentioned in the literature, there is a dearth of primary elections studies relative to general elections. The latter attract the attention of mass media for the obvious reason: they determine who or which party will govern the country or any other political entity. Nevertheless, there is a growing literature on primary studies. There are three aspects researched in this literature: (a) primary elections systems, (b) why a political party decides to hold primary elections and (c) the selection criteria of candidates and voters. This paper uses the existing literature to analyze some facets of the history of PASOK’s primary elections, emphasizing the most recent one of 2021. The most important conclusion emerging from this analysis is that ideology did play a role, particularly the candidates’ stance on their possible collaboration with the right-wing or the left-wing parties, which has been a controversial issue in the last decade. Another important conclusion is that PASOK voters opted for a younger candidate primarily because they wanted to get out of the current stalemate of PASOK’s low performance in general elections. As predicted from the literature, the competition between the six candidates resulted in a large turnout on the ballot date even though other factors played a positive role such as very good weather and a wide media coverage. Keywords: primaries, elections, voting, political parties, PASOK, Greece


2022 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-222
Author(s):  
Gregory T. Papanikos

This paper examines the primary elections of the PanHellenic Socialist Party (PASOK) which were held on 5th and 12th of December 2021. Six candidates run for the position of the president in the first round and two runners-up in the second. As mentioned in the literature, there is a dearth of primary elections studies relative to general elections. The latter attract the attention of mass media for the obvious reason: they determine who or which party will govern the country or any other political entity. Nevertheless, there is a growing literature on primary studies. There are three aspects researched in this literature: (a) primary elections systems, (b) why a political party decides to hold primary elections and (c) the selection criteria of candidates and voters. This paper uses the existing literature to analyze some facets of the history of PASOK’s primary elections, emphasizing the most recent one of 2021. The most important conclusion emerging from this analysis is that ideology did play a role, particularly the candidates’ stance on their possible collaboration with the right-wing or the left-wing parties, which has been a controversial issue in the last decade. Another important conclusion is that PASOK voters opted for a younger candidate primarily because they wanted to get out of the current stalemate of PASOK’s low performance in general elections. As predicted from the literature, the competition between the six candidates resulted in a large turnout on the ballot date even though other factors played a positive role such as very good weather and a wide media coverage. Keywords: primaries, elections, voting, political parties, PASOK, Greece


2022 ◽  
pp. 135406882110667
Author(s):  
Ariel Rosenfeld ◽  
Ehud Shapiro ◽  
Nimrod Talmon

Many democratic political parties hold primary elections, which nicely reflects their democratic nature and promote, among other things, the democratic value of inclusiveness. However, the methods currently used for holding such primary elections may not be the most suitable, especially if some form of proportional ranking is desired. In this paper, we compare different algorithmic methods for holding primaries (i.e., different aggregation methods for voters’ ballots) by evaluating the degree of proportional ranking that is achieved by each of them using real-world data. In particular, we compare six different algorithms by analyzing real-world data from a recent primary election conducted by the Israeli Democratit party. Technically, we analyze unique voter data and evaluate the proportionality achieved by means of cluster analysis, aiming at pinpointing the representation that is granted to different voter groups under each of the algorithmic methods considered. Our finding suggest that, contrary to the most-prominent primaries algorithm used (i.e., Approval), other methods such as Sequential Proportional Approval or Phragmen can bring about better proportional ranking and thus may be better suited for primary elections in practice.


Author(s):  
Gilles Serra

The way political parties select their candidates should be considered a fundamental topic in political science. In spite of being profoundly consequential in several regards, candidate selection methods were understudied for a long time in the academic literature. A renewed awareness of the implications of different nomination rules, along with an increased use of primary elections around the world, has accelerated this research in the last two decades. This chapter reviews the main areas of inquiry regarding candidate selection as reflected in contemporary research. It surveys the most recent literature asking four broad questions about candidate selection methods: What types are there? What consequences do they have? What are their origins? What questions can be formulated for future research? The chapter aims to convey that research on candidate selection is important, growing, and full of open questions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-51
Author(s):  
HENRY EJOTUBU OGBE

Democracy operates principle of majority which requires equal political opportunities and liberties to aspirants to contest under political parties in recent times. Therefore political party has made formation of (representative) democracy easier and possible via the instrumentality of elections. Nigerian democracy is threatened by candidates imposition by some powerful party leaders due to lack of political parties internal democracy . The study adopted liberal theory of representation as its theoretical framework. With the aid of observational and secondary methods of inquiry, the study revealed that the practice of candidate imposition within political parties and sometimes in general elections by some powerful political parties leaders is affront to democracy as it disintegrates political parties, breaches human right of  political parties members among others. The study also revealed that candidates imposition due to lack of political parties internal democracy  practice threaten Nigeria democracy as it produces incompetent leaders who could not articulate the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians into achievable policies and programmes. Consequently, Nigerians are frustrated to the level that they are ignited easily and lure into violence which jeopardize national security. Creation of commission to regulates and monitors political parties primary elections and other activities, providing equal political opportunities to political parties members among others are recommended to strengthen political parties internal democracy in Nigeria.      


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malaika Jores

Since 2017, Germany’s Basic Law has allowed anti-constitutional parties to be excluded from state party funding. Such exclusion from funding is at odds with the right to equal political opportunities, which derives from the principle of democracy. This thesis examines whether such exclusion from funding is permissible under German constitutional law. In particular, it takes account of the principle of democracy—guaranteed by the ‘eternity clause’—and the concept of ‘militant democracy’. The thesis also considers the issue in question from a European law perspective and, in addition to conducting a legal analysis, examines whether distorting the competition among political parties is justifiable with respect to democratic theory.


1909 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 561-562
Author(s):  
John A. Lapp

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