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Democratizing Candidate Selection pp 99–121Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Selecting Candidates Online in Europe: A Comparison Among the Cases of M5S, Podemos and European Green Party

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Abstract

The chapter explores a recent trend in primary elections: the use of online platforms by new parties. In particular, it considers three cases in a comparative perspective: the Italian Five Star Movement (M5S), the Spanish Podemos and the European Green Party (EPG). As a way to emphasise its participatory purpose, in December 2012, the M5S organized for the first time an online primary to select parliamentary candidates. Since 2012, the M5S continues to promote the using of web platform among party members with a lot of consequences. In 2014, in the run-up to the European Elections, the EPG organized the first European-wide online primary proposed by a transnational party. More recently, in 2015, the Spanish Podemos employed an online platform called “participa.podemos.info” to select national candidates. So the main aim of this chapter is to analyse procedures and rules employed in online primaries by M5S, EPG and Podemos, in order to underline analogies and differences between these main cases. In general, the three cases underline a low participation level combined with a risk of manipulation by party central office. However, the EGP online primaries are, in all, the most inclusive, followed by those of Podemos and, finally, the case of the M5S.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Genova, Genova, Italy

    Maria Elisabetta Lanzone

  2. University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy

    Stefano Rombi

Authors
  1. Maria Elisabetta Lanzone
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  2. Stefano Rombi
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Correspondence to Maria Elisabetta Lanzone .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Guillermo Cordero

  2. Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville, Spain

    Xavier Coller

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Lanzone, M.E., Rombi, S. (2018). Selecting Candidates Online in Europe: A Comparison Among the Cases of M5S, Podemos and European Green Party. In: Cordero, G., Coller, X. (eds) Democratizing Candidate Selection. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76550-1_5

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