Original scientific paper

NOMINATING PROCEDURES IN DEMOCRATIC POLITIES

Mirjana Kasapović ; Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

One of the focuses of the study of parties at the end of the 20th century has been the organizational structure and the relations within political parties, including the nominating procedures for the selection of candidates for general elections. The manner in which parties fulfil their recruiting function and, eventually, the quality of the political and the governing elite in a “party” state directly depends on these procedures. Typologically there are differences between the nominating procedures in the US (regulated by federal laws) and those in European political parties (regulated by party documents). The author describes major forms of American pre-elections and European procedures for candidates’ selection. Finally, she analyses the nominating procedures in the Croatian legislation and the statutes of Croatian parliamentary parties. Her conclusion is that the laws on parties and the selection of candidates are entirely left to the parties whose statutes - without exception - envisage very centralized, exclusive and non-democratic procedures of candidates’ selection.

Keywords

political parties; nominating procedures; pre-elections; candidates

Hrčak ID:

24331

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/24331

Publication date:

4.4.2002.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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