Leadership Primaries in a Single Party Dominant System

Political parties tend to adopt reforms granting members greater influence in leadership selection when in opposition, in the aftermath of an electoral setback, or when a new party is formed (Cross and Blais 2010). None of these circumstances apply to the Progressive Conservative Party in the Canadian province of Alberta, which has formed a continuous majority government since 1971. Since 1991, the PC Party has employed a leadership selection process most closely analogous to an American style open primary, allowing all citizens over the age of 16 to pay $5 to join the party on the day of the leadership vote, or to join on the day of the run-off ballot if no candidate won the requisite 50+1 on the first ballot. In each of the three contests run under these rules, tens of thousands of eligible voters have joined the party on the day of the primary. In this paper, we will examine the question of why a dominant party would adopt an open primary, and consider the effects that this choice has had on the party’s internal organization. Particular attention will be paid to the relative roles of leader, legislative caucus, party organization and new party members under rules that make the party highly permeable. To conduct this analysis, we will draw upon a survey of 2nd ballot voters from the 1992 primary as well as constituency level voting data from the 2006 and 2011 primaries. Attention will be paid to the mobilization of Albertans, media coverage, the role played by elected members of the legislature, ideological divisions within the campaigns and among voters and the response of opposition parties. By examining an exceptional case – a US-style open primary conducted by a dominant party in a parliamentary system – this paper will shed light on the dynamics that cause parties to adopt primaries, and suggest some of the implications of primaries for internal party organization for governing parties. Note: Authorship is David K. Stewart, Professor, University of Calgary and Lisa Young, University of Calgary