tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620652438500849718.post7304196998084254664..comments2024-02-25T10:22:38.186+00:00Comments on The European Citizen: The Primary will not be TelevisedEurocentrichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09439536905456080079noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7620652438500849718.post-85251969456676116832013-11-07T12:20:43.611+00:002013-11-07T12:20:43.611+00:00Such an outcome was unfortunately on the card from...Such an outcome was unfortunately on the card from the start. A key characteristic of the "primary" decided by the PES is the clause such that "A [national] party can only nominate or support one potential candidate". <br /><br />Rules of coalitional politics heavily push in favour of a unique "real" candidate with such a clause. Here is why. Big players like France or Germany will not wish to be in a losing coalition. Hence they will most likely agree on a common compromise candidate before a primary instead of going each for different candidates. Once Germany and France have agreed on one candidate, other countries will follow for the same reason. Only minor candidates from peripheral national parties are likely to be opposed to the main one in this set up. However they would still need to gather a minimum support of 6 national parties to be able to run. That is not a likely scenario.<br /><br />As a consequence the final outcome is unfortunately not surprising. The desire of parties to keep hold on the decision process was written from the start in the primary rules which are not conducive to a real political competition. If the PES wants to have a real primary next time they have to accept that candidates should not be supported by a coalition of national parties. This defies the purpose of a democratic primary.<br /><br />LPAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com