Simultaneous and Mandatory Open Primaries. The Repeal of Law 25,611 and the Emblematic Case of Uruguay

Abstract

The article discusses the convenience of an official regulation of the methods that parties use for presidential candidates selection, particularly through open primary elections. On this issue, it has been suggested that the existence of a regularly followed regulation may cause the beginning of a highly beneficial circular process for the reconstruction of party representativeness. With that aim, it inquires about the pretexts used in 2002 on the occasion of the enactment of Law 25,611 (first suspended and later countermanded), an initiative inspired by the model of Uruguay, where it has been applied a law that forces all officially registered parties to hold simultaneous open primary elections, regulated by the electoral organism of the country. The article examines the cases of open primary presidential elections in the main Uruguayan parties in 1999 and 2004, and compares the results with the intention of examining the evolution of the consecutive implementation of this law and its effects on democracy.