The (new) Democratic Party: ideology, values and strategies of sympathizers, members and delegates

Abstract

ABSTRACT The PD has always been a composite and complex party, where different and sometimes opposing political cultures converge. The 2023 primary elections overturned the predictions by handing over the party leadership to Elly Schlein, interpreted by many as the beginning of a renewal process. However, it is precisely the logic of open primaries that brings into play different actors, bearers of values and strategies that are not always congruent. Will the PD be able to build a more homogeneous political culture and a coalition capable of facing the centre-right in the upcoming internal challenges? Does the change in the PD’s internal balances complicate or facilitate the formation of a competitive political offer? To answer these questions, we will investigate the differences between members, sympathisers and delegates to the National Assembly according to three analytical dimensions - self-placement on the left-right axis, value positioning with respect to some relevant issues, and the party’s coalitional perspectives - on the basis of the data collected during the 26 February 2023 primaries and in the context of the National Assembly on 12 March. First, we will deal with the process of selecting the PD leadership, discussing the rules of competition, the specificities of the two main candidates, and reconstructing the results obtained at the regional level during the phase of the democratic militants’ vote and that of the open primaries. The analysis of the data will provide us with solid elements on which we can then offer an overall discussion of the main results that emerged to understand, in terms of ideological orientations, values, and expectations on the party’s coalitional strategies, whether and to what extent Schlein’s election might be the prelude to an internal renewal or whether it might prefigure a new season of divisions.