Nominating Procedures in Democratic Polities
Nominating Procedures in Democratic Polities

Summary/Abstract: One of the focuses of the study of political 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 candidate selection for general elections. The manner in which parties fulfill 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 primaries and European procedures for candidate 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 candidate selection are entirely left to the parties whose statutes – without exception – envisage very centralized, exclusive and non-democratic procedures of candidate selection.

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