Borrell, Rajoy, and Primaries

My devoted reader buttonholed me again with a reminder that the PSC's sister party, the PSOE, had held open primaries in 1998. (A primary is open when voters are given more than one candidate for whom they may vote.) The winner, Josep Borrell, was hounded out of office by the party nomenklatura within thirteen months and succeeded by the man he had defeated in an open democratic process. It was the political equivalent of one of Goya's black paintings, reminiscent of the apocryphal stories told about Lyndon Johnson's early campaigns. His successor's successor, Rodríguez Zapatero, did not compete in primaries. He won the post of party general secretary at conference for which delegates were elected by party members, but the electoral process is not one in which candidates campaign openly for delegates who then commit to them. With the general secretariat came parliamentary party leadership and candidacy for prime ministership.

The leader of the opposition, Mariano Rajoy, was chosen by the man he succeeded, in the manner of second-century AD Roman emperors. The choice was rubber-stamped by the party hierarchy within days. Rajoy has left very little doubt as to the party's procedure for choosing slates of candidates for upcoming elections: "I draw up the lists," he stated bluntly last November. At least he's honest. The implication, though, is that all authority in the party flows down always, with no correctives. Aznar picked Rajoy, Rajoy picks the candidates, and their order in each slate. Thumbs up, thumbs down: some are assured a seat, some are sure that they won't get a seat, and a few live with real doubt until election night.