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The effects of primaries on electoral performance: France and Italy in comparative perspective

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 19:19 authored by Marino De Luca, Fulvio Venturino
For some years now the clamour for the democratisation of internal party politics has been spreading. This issue has been addressed in Italy and France. In the run-up to the 2013 parliamentary election in Italy and the 2012 presidential election in France, leftist coalitions held open primary elections to select their chief executive candidates, with Pier Luigi Bersani and François Hollande finally emerging as nominees. In this article, we examine whether the levels of turnout and competition in the party primaries are associated with the results of the general election. Using data at the level of the Italian province and the French département, we show that the results of the general election were affected by the primaries. We show that turnout enhanced electoral performance, while competition depressed it. The positive effects of turnout were greater than the negative effects of competition.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

French Politics

ISSN

1476-3419

Publisher

Palgrave Macmillan

Issue

1

Volume

15

Page range

43-56

Department affiliated with

  • Politics Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2020-02-03

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