ABSTRACT
Several primary elections, either at national, regional, or local level, were organized in Italy from 2004 to 2017. This instrument for intra-party democracy has been used for selecting a wide range of party and elected offices. The Italian case represents thus a pertinent field of inquiry for exploring the impact of such inclusive methods for internal decision-making. Primaries have been used by Italian (mostly centre-left) parties, and particularly by the Democratic Party, for more than a decade now. Between 2004 and 2017, more than 1000 primary elections were held to select candidates, top-list candidates at different levels (local, regional, national) and party leaders. Therefore, Italian party members, voters and supporters have familiarized themselves with this democratic innovation which appears to have at least contributed to counterbalancing the general disaffection with parties spreading among Italian voters in the last decade. The chapter focuses on primary elections for selecting the party leader. Focusing on four leadership selection contests (2007, 2009, 2013 and 2017), it aims to understand whether and to what extent primaries may have contributed to strengthening both party electoral performance and party membership figures of the Partito Democratico. The chapter will provide an in-depth analysis of the rules of managing the process, as well as a longitudinal exploration of the participation and competition patterns based on aggregate level data at regional/district level.
