29 August 2022

More and more political parties are opening up their leadership contests and candidate selection processes to online votes. Some, including the recent Conservative Party leadership contest in the United Kingdom, are open only to party members. But others, such as the recent Sicilian center-left coalition vote, opt for a more radical open primary format, in which voting is open to people from outside of the parties. The power of open primaries is that it gives the public a direct say in party politics.

Digital tools can help make party candidate selection contests more accessible. For this reason, parties and civic movements – such as the Primaire Populaire in France – have started to bring primaries to the digital space. In this article, we will introduce 6 candidates who have been recently elected, or ran, in digital primaries. Each of them is unique not just for their program but for the voting system they have used. Let’s meet them! 

  • Roberto Gualtieri, 2021 Mayoral Elections in Rome 

    Former minister for the Economy Roberto Gualtieri won the center-left primaries to become their candidate for Rome municipal elections. He won the primaries with 62,2% of the vote on 20 June 2021. He was subsequently elected Mayor of Rome on 18 October 2021. Citizens registered on the online platform “Partecipa” using their digital identity (SPID) and paid the 2€ fee. On election day, they received a link through which they could log into the platform and cast their vote. His party, the Partito Democratico (PD) or Democratic Party, has regularly held open primaries to select its leaders since it was formed in 2007.

     

    Image: Arno Mikkor

  • Péter Márki-Zay, 2022 National Parliamentary Elections in Hungary

    On 10 October 2021, Hungary hosted the second round of an opposition primary to choose the candidate for prime minister who would be backed by the opposition to run in the 2022 parliamentary election against Viktor Orbán. It was Hungary’s first nationwide primary election in its political history. The United Opposition’s nonpartisan candidate for prime minister, Péter Márki-Zay, won the vote. Citizens could vote online on the platform elovalasztas.hu. They could register with a photo ID (identity card, driver’s license or passport) and address card, and then proceed to the video identification. Citizens abroad, as long as they had Hungarian residence, could also vote. Márki-Zay faced Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the Parliamentary elections on 3 April 2022. Orbán won by a landslide, and Márki-Zay had to concede defeat. He has since announced plans to found his own centre-right political party.

  • Jannick Jadot, Pôle écologiste candidate for the 2022 French Presidential Election

    On 28 September 2021, Jannick Jadot won the French Presidential Election primaries for the electoral alliance le Pôle écologiste, a group comprising five green parties. He won the second round of voting with 51,03% of the votes against his rival Sabrine Rousseau. The vote was cast online using the voting tool Neovote. The tool allows for real-time monitoring of votes and the easy identification of anomalies. Voters received a secret code after registering on the platform and paying a 2€ fee (the fee was waived for members of the five parties). The vote was open to anyone aged 16 or older, including non-citizens. Jadot represented le Pôle écologiste at the 2022 Presidential election, but was eliminated in the first round with 4,6% of the vote.

    Image: Greenbox, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

  • Christiane Taubira, candidate selected in the “primaire populaire” for the 2022 French Presidential Election.

    The former Minister of Justice under the Hollande government, Christine Taubira, is one of the seven candidates who, last January, ran for the “Primaire populaire” in France. Of the seven, Taubira obtained the highest score, defeating Yannick Jadot and Jean-Luc Mélenchon. The “Primaire Popularie” was the largest online vote of a French presidential campaign, with 467,000 registered citizens. The primary used the same tool as Pôle écologiste – Neovote. Taubira’s victory was supposed to unite the left in the run for the presidential election, however the vote’s result was not recognised by the main left-wing candidates, leading Taubira to withdraw from the race. Ultimately, the “primaire populaire” decided to endorse Mélanchon who, on the left, was the candidate better placed in the national election polls—even though he only placed third in the primary.

    Image: EU2016 NL from The Netherlands, CC BY 2.0

  • Caterina Chinnici, 2022 Regional elections in Sicily

    On 23 July, the residents of Sicily voted for the candidate that will represent the centre-left in the Regional elections later this year. These primaries were a first for many reasons: it was the first centre-left coalition in Sicily between the Democratic Party (PD) and the Five Star Movement (M5S); for the first time, Sicilian residents from the age of 16 were allowed to vote; and finally, it was the first online vote for the Italian island. All residents, including non-party members, could register on the SkyVote platform. OThey then had the choice of casting their ballot either in person or online. Chinnici (PD), magistrate and MEP, won with 44,77% of the vote. 77% of votes were cast online.

  • Liz Truss 

    The Conservative Party leadership race was one of the most important online votes in the history of the United Kingdom: the result determined their next Prime Minister. After four initial rounds of voting open to Conservative MPs only, the party’s estimated 160,000 members have the chance to cast their vote to decide whether Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak or Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will become the next occupant of 10 Downing Street. Party members had the option of voting by postal ballot or online. On 5 September, Liz Truss was announced as the winner, with 57.4% of the vote. 

    Image: UK Parliament