The Irish Labour Party Leadership Election, 2002: A Survey of Party Members

Abstract

Political parties are seen within liberal democracies to be essential organizations for the selection of candidates and leaders. While voters have some choice over the candidates elected they have much less choice over the selection of prime minister and ministers following the process of government formation. This makes leadership elections within political parties an important issue. Until recently all leadership elections within Irish political parties were restricted to members of parliament, with ordinary party members having no direct role to play in this process, but in October 2002, the Irish Labour Party chose its new leader using a postal ballot with an Alternative Vote (AV) electoral rule. In this article we provide a brief discussion and analysis of this unique election and the opportunities which leadership election surveys offer scholars of political parties, electoral behaviour, political participation and representation.