Winds of Change

Abstract

In the lead-up to the 2013 parliamentary election, four Italian parties used primaries to select candidates. Primaries, which were autonomously decided upon by the parties' central offices, have operated according to different rules. These quasi-experimental circumstances allow an assessment of the effects of rules and selectors' predispositions in the promotion of legislator renewal. An examination of three aspects of renewal–gender balance, rejuvenation and turnover–found that party leaderships sometimes deliberately pursued renewal through biased rules. The cases in point are Partito Democratico and Sinistra Ecologia e Libertà regarding gender balance, and Movimento 5 Stelle (M5S) regarding turnover. Moreover, even when unconstrained by the rules, selectors have pushed for renewal, as shown by the rise in female representation in the M5S. In general, primary elections have demonstrated to be renewalfriendly. However, it remains unclear whether this is an idiosyncratic effect connected to a single election, or a general tendency due to the characteristics of primary voters.

Italy: Political Developments and Data in 2022

“…While centre‐right parties, in particular, showed a decreased presence of female MPs in the Camera, the Movimento 5 Stelle reported a greater female presence in both chambers, with 44.2 per cent in the Chamber of Deputies and gender parity in the Senate, even surpassing the previous gender balance of the Movimento 5 Stelle parliamentary groups. An inclusive method of selecting candidates with rules aimed at ensuring greater female representation on electoral lists might have contributed to this outcome for the Movimento 5 Stelle (Venturino & Seddone, 2017).…”

“…An inclusive method of selecting candidates with rules aimed at ensuring greater female representation on electoral lists might have contributed to this outcome for the Movimento 5 Stelle (Venturino & Seddone, 2017). Moreover, the parliamentary composition has changed due to the emergence of new parliamentary groups, such as the Alleanza Verdi-Sinistra (comprising Italian Left/Sinistra Italiana and Green Europe/Europa Verde, among others) and Us Moderates/Noi Moderati (comprising Us with Italy/Noi con l'Italia, Union of the Centre/Unione di Centro and other centrist parties), who presented independent lists in the 2022 elections.…”