Primary elections for Britain

McSweeney, Dean

Abstract

The coalition's programme for government promises to fund 200 open postal primaries during the current Parliament, targeted at seats which have not changed hands for many years. The lessons from the two open postal primaries used in 2009 are that they will change the numbers and characteristics of those involved in choosing candidates, the criteria for selection and the type of candidates chosen. Much will remain unchanged. Primaries are unlikely to affect the controlling influence of party in the House. The limits to their number and duration will leave most safe seats unaffected and prevent the development of any new form of accountability. Primaries will provide some voters with intra-party competition but inter-party uncompetitiveness will remain the norm. © The Author 2010. The Political Quarterly © The Political Quarterly Publishing Co. Ltd. 2010.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Oct 1, 2010
• Deposit Date: Dec 19, 2011
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 2, 2016
• Journal: Political Quarterly
• Print ISSN: 0032-3179
• Electronic ISSN: 1467-923X
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 81
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 537-544
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-923X.2010.02125.x
• Keywords: political parties, primary elections, candidate selection
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/986907
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-923X.2010.02125.x
• Contract Date: Dec 2, 2016