The regional primary elections in Italy: a general overview

Luca, Marino De; Rombi, Stefano

doi:10.1080/23248823.2016.1153827

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 23 publications

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“…In October 2005, Romano Prodi was chosen to become the candidate to the office of Prime Minister of a coalition soon to be called Unione (The Union) through primary elections (Valbruzzi, 2015). At the time of our writing (October 2016) "regular" primary elections for mayors and presidents of the regions organized and held by the PD (or their immediate predecessors) have reached the quite impressive number of 1.039 at the municipal level (Seddone and Valbruzzi, 2012;Venturino, 2016) and 17 at the regional level (De Luca and Rombi, 2016). Figure 3 reports the number of municipal primaries held in Italy since 2004.…”

Section: Centage Of the National Electoratementioning

confidence: 99%

The Italian Democratic Party, its nature and its Secretary

Pasquino¹,

Valbruzzi²

2017

Rev. Esp. Cienc. Polít.

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The Democratic Party (PD) is the only reasonably organized party in the Italian de-structured party system. It is itself undergoing a process of transformation. It defies all traditional party definitions. It is no longer a class-based mass party and not even a mass party. Nobody within the party believes that such a party can resurrect. It shows many features of a catch-all party, but some of them are by far more prominent than others. It is not simply an electoral-professional party since its aims go beyond just winning the elections and it relies more on internal resources than on outside professionals. At this point, the most appropriate definition is that of a personalist party cum factions. This article tries to explain : (1) how the PD has acquired a dominant position in Italian politics; (2) how its leader has been elected by members and sympathizers of the party; and (3) how much he is trying to transform the PD into a vehicle pursuing his personal ambitions. Much of what Matteo Renzi will achieve or fail to obtain depends on the new electoral law and on the opposition mounted by some actors, especially the Five Stars Movement. The easiest forecast is that in the short-run the Italian party system will remain de-structured providing opportunities, but also volatility risks for the PD and its leader.Keywords: Italy, party system, personalist party, leadership, primaries. ResumenEl Partido Demócrata (PD) es el único partido razonablemente organizado en el desestructurado sistema de partidos italiano. El propio PD está sufriendo un proceso de transformación que desafía todas las definiciones tradicionales de partidos. Ya no es un partido de masas de clase y ni siquiera un partido de masas. Nadie dentro del partido cree que tal partido pueda resucitar. Muestra muchos rasgos de un partido «atrapa todos», pero algunos de ellos son mucho más prominentes que otros. No es simplemente un partido profesional-electoral ya que sus objetivos van más allá de ganar las elecciones y depende más de los recursos internos que de profesionales externos. En este momento, la definición más apropiada es la de un partido personalista con facciones. Este artículo trata de explicar (1) cómo el PD ha adquirido una posición dominante en la política italiana; (2) cómo han elegido los miembros y los simpatizantes del partido a su líder y (3) cómo este último está intentando transformar el PD en un vehículo para sus ambiciones personales. Gran parte de lo que Matteo Renzi obtenga o no depende de la nueva ley electoral y de la oposición organizada por algunos actores, en especial el Movimiento Cinco Estrellas. El pronóstico más fácil es que en el corto plazo el sistema de partidos italiano seguirá desestructurado brindando oportunidades, pero también riesgos de volatilidad para el PD y su líder.Palabras clave: Italia, sistema de partidos, partido personalista, liderazgo, primarias.

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Section: Centage Of the National Electoratementioning

confidence: 99%