Power to the … Citizens? When Members are Not Enough to Unravel the Void: Trends of Intra-Party Democracy and Direct Democracy Provisions in Bulgarian Parties

One of the challenges of the crisis of representation is the withdrawal of citizens from the political parties (Mair 2013). Parties can attempt to address this in several ways: by reaching deeper into society and building networks, recruiting more members, intensifying members' roles in organizational decision-making, or incorporating citizens more broadly into their lives. In that respect, opening up to members and citizens might pose complex dilemmas for the party organization, as it necessitates different mechanisms and often empowers opposing groups. The Intra-party democracy IPD and inclusiveness of members and citizens are related to the democratic order (Hazan and Rahat 2010; von dem Berge& Poguntke 2017). Several European parties have introduced primaries for leadership and candidate selection (Sandri, Seddone and Venturino 2015). This is especially true for new parties born during the crisis of representation, which are usually more attuned to incorporate the will of the people broadly defined. This paper examines this dilemma as faced by the new parties in Bulgarian politics: Da, Bulgaria! Movement, There is Such a People (ITN), and We Continue the Change (PP), all born just before or after the major anti-establishment protests of 2020 in Bulgaria. It uses the PPDB dataset to assess the extent to which both parties provide for and engage in mechanisms of intraparty democracy (such as party consultations, primaries, broad leadership, and candidate selection) vis-à-vis their politics of incorporating citizens into decision-making through various mechanisms of direct democracy. It compares the trends set by the two parties and reflects on the consequences these have for party politics in the country.