Party on the Ground and Candidate Selection in France (1969-2013): The Story of a Difficult Inclusion

Political parties are still today the main actors in the political recruitment in France. Most of the French parties use a mixed system, which involves the local members and the national organization. In general, the final decision is taken at the national level by a national selection committee, an organization that is not known for its transparency. The selection procedures have thus always been considered as the « black box » of the political parties. But, today, the political parties are confronted with the challenge of democratization for these procedures.

The expansion of democracy goes mainly through direct participation from the party members. So, an increase of the party member’s power within the party is a typical response for democratization. But, if the party members are more and more included in the decision-making of the selection, the problem is that the decision of the party leaders does not always match with their choice.

This paper looks at how political parties have responded to the demands of more democracy, using France as a case study, with an empirical study of the evolution of intra-party democracy in the candidate selection. The aim is to identify the impact of the introduction of more intra-party democracy and the difficulties for the different party strata to deal with it. Therefore, we have systematically reviewed contemporary and historic party statutes and internal rules document from the PS (left-wing party) and the RPR/UMP (right-wing party) since their creation from 1969 to 2013. The analysis from political parties through their internal formal rules allows to understand how the party on the ground is, at least formally, included in the selection procedure. This will be illustrated by semi-structured interviews. Current party leaders, members of parliament, party secretaries were among those interviewed.