Les primaires : un sens et un projet démocratiques

Abstract

Par leur origine, les primaires ont un sens démocratique : empêcher l’extrême droite d’accéder au pouvoir. Par leurs qualités, elles portent un projet démocratique : ouvrir un temps, un espace et une procédure qui favorisent la délibération politique sur le choix des programmes et des hommes ou des femmes pour les conduire.

Dynamiques de campagne et choix des candidats

“…I n recent years, primaries have spread internationally as a way of choosing candidates in a context of weakening parties (provoked by crises and/or deficiencies of leadership, shrinking memberships, and popular mistrust), of presidentialization, and of the personalization of political life. 1 France joined this trend with debates on a draft bill on primaries (which did not become law) proposed by Charles Pasqua on 27 June 1994. The trend continued to François Hollande's nomination [as presidential candidate] on 16 October 2011, by almost three million Socialist voters; and culminated in the period preceding the 2017 presidential election, which involved a succession of semi-open primaries, first among the ecologists of the EELV (19 October and 7 November 2016), then with an open primary of the right and center (20 and 27 November 2016), and finally with an open primary of the "Belle Alliance Populaire" organized by the Socialist Party and its allies (22 and 29 January 2017).…”

“…6 Others believe primaries help revitalize parties, 7 reinforce the role of the president, 8 debate. 1 Similarly, procedural and organizational details-the timetable adopted, the conditions of candidacy, the number of polling stations, the boundaries of the electorate-are the object of lively debate in which the law sometimes intervenes. 2 Finally, interpretations of primary effects are split between those who argue for the "primary penalty thesis", 3 and those who argue for a "primary bonus".…”

“…12 Such methods allow us to reconstruct electoral itineraries in order to better understand the logic behind them. 1 This interest in campaign dynamics is linked to research that emphasizes the role of issues, 2 the importance of television and other media in politics, 3 and the process of "personalization". 4 As primary elections in France are characterized by competing policy visions, the presidency as the end goal, majority suffrage, two-round voting, media attention, and citizen participation, they provide an ideal setting for the inquiry of the effect of campaign dynamics in voters' decision-making.…”

“…In fact, it led to the selection of a candidate who was not one of the two favorites-the media and pollsters all having predicted that the second round would be between Nicolas Sarkozy (former French President from 2007 to 2012) and Alain Juppé (former French Prime Minister from 1995 to 1997). 1 In response to criticism of their inability to predict this result, a number of polling companies explained that their predictions had failed because of a practically unforeseeable, last-minute voter mobilization in Fillon's favor. But this claim does not hold up to empirical evidence.…”

“…This article presents the results of this experiment, which was conducted using the website La Boussole Présidentielle, developed in partnership with the website 20minutes.fr at Cevipof in the fall of 2016 by a research team of specialists in electoral sociology, discourse analysis, and the history of ideas, who provided qualitative and quantitative methods. 1 Our discussion is based on data collected by La Boussole Présidentielle in its "Primaire de la droite et du centre" (primary of the right and center) survey. The VAA was launched online on 24 October 2016, almost four weeks before the first round.…”