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Intra-party Democracy and Internet: The Case of NEOS in Austria

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Democratizing Candidate Selection

Abstract

Unconstrained by organizational tradition new parties can devise highly innovative procedures. NEOS, a new liberal party that entered the national parliament in 2013, is proud of currently having the most inclusive and transparent candidate selection procedure of Austrian parties. Three selectorates, formed of citizens, the party executive and party members, vote online on candidates and their combined results determine the candidate lists. An analysis of outcomes in the last two national elections shows that the party executive nevertheless is the most important selectorate.

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Jenny, M. (2018). Intra-party Democracy and Internet: The Case of NEOS in Austria. In: Cordero, G., Coller, X. (eds) Democratizing Candidate Selection. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76550-1_4

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