PES presidential primaries, 2014

The 2014 PES primaries is the selection process by which the members of the Party of European Socialists will chose the PES candidate for President of the European Commission ahead of the 2014 European elections.

This primary will be the very first presidential primary organised by a European political party.

Contents 1 Context 2 Process 2.1 General principles 2.2 Nomination process 2.3 Votes in member parties and organisations 2.4 Results and their ratification 3 Voting procedures in member parties and organisations 3.1 France - PS 4 References

Context

Following the disappointing results of PES members parties during the European elections of June 2009, in which PES didn't have any candidate for Commission president because of the relectance of some national delegations, the PES Congress of Prague of December 2009 made the decision that PES would designate its own candidate before the 2014 European elections^[1].

A few months afterwards, in June 2010, several PES supporters launched an online campaign for a PES primary^[2] which rapidly gained momentum on social networks. Led by Desmond O'Toole, José Reis Santos and Arthur Colin, the campaign managed to convince the PES Council meeting in Warsaw in December 2010 to set up Working Group "Candidate 2014" in charge of proposing a procedure and timetable for a "democratic" and "transparent" designation process. The Council accepted to "bring on board all PES member parties and all levels within the parties" in the selection process^[3].

One year later, basing on the working group's conclusions, a PES Congress gathering in Brussels in November 2011 decided that PES would designate its candidate for Commission president through primaries taking place in January 2014 in each of its member parties and organisations^[4], before a ratification of the results by an Extraordinary PES Congress in February 2014.

Process

The general procedure of the PES primary is detailed in the PES Resolution "Selecting our common candidate in 2014" adopted by the PES Council on 24 November 2011^[5].

General principles

According to this text, the selection procedure should respect the following principles:

- The procedure should be open and transparent.

- All member parties should feel ownership over the process.

- The procedure will therefore respect the different traditions in our parties in a flexible way.

- The procedure should be coherent so as to ensure the credibility of the process.

- The process should allow a competition of candidates.

By the end of 2012, the Working Group "Candidate 2014" will make proposals to the PES Presidency on the practical, financial and organisational aspects of the primary in order to translate these principles into detailed rules.

Six months before the process is launched, the timetable of the primary will be reajusted by the PES Presidency according to the exact date decided by the Council of the EU for the 2014 European elections.

Nomination process

Delegates with voting rights to the
8th PES Congress 2009^[6]

Party or organisation		Delegates
S&D Group in the European Parliament		28
Germany	SPD	28
Spain	PSOE	26
United Kingdom	Labour	22
	SDPL	2
France	PS	23
Italy	DS	20
	PS	3
Poland	SLD	17
	UP	3
Romania	PSD	14
Czech Republic	CSSD	11
Greece	PASOK	11
Portugal	PS	11
Belgium	PS	6
	sp.a	5
Netherlands	PvdA	10
Hungary	MSzP	8
	MSzDP	2
Sweden	SAP	9
Austria	SPÖ	8
Bulgaria	BSP	8
Slovakia	SMER	8
Denmark	SD	7
Ireland	Labour	7
Lithuania	LSDP	7
Norway	DNA	7
Finland	SDP	6
Malta	MLP	5
Cyprus	EDEK	4
Estonia	SDE	4
Luxembourg	LSAP	4
Slovenia	SD	4
Latvia	LSDSP	3
PES Group in the Committee of the Regions		3
ECOSY (Youth organisation)		3
PES Women (Women's organisation)		3
FEPS (Foundation for European Progressive Studies)		3
PES President		1
PES Secretary general		1
Total		355

First, a nomination process will determine which candidates are eligible for the primary. It will follow three steps:

• 1st-31st October 2013: Opening of nominations. Candidates will have to send their candidacies, one letter of nomination, and five letters of support to the PES secretariat.

Anyone meeting the nomination criteria can stand as a candidate:

- Be nominated by a PES full member party or organisation.

- Be supported by 15% of PES full member parties or organisations (nominating party or organisation included), including his/her party or a party from his/her country if he/she is not a member of a PES full member party.

- A party can only nominate or support one potential candidate.

These criteria will allow for a maximum of six candidates. In November 2011, the PES had 33 full member parties and 5 full member organizations. In these conditions, a candidate would need the support from 6 parties or organisations: one nominating her/him, 5 other supporting.

• October 2013: A PES Leaders’ Conference will take place to examin the nomination process.

• 1st week of November 2013: Official opening of the campaign.

The PES Presidency will meet to close the nomination process, check candidacies, make the candidacies public, and set up an electoral committee composed of representatives from each potential candidate to scrutinize the fairness of the process.

Votes in member parties and organisations

• 1st December - 31st January 2014: Once the list of potential candidates is finalised, votes on the candidates will be organised in each full member party and organisation.

Each party or organisation determines its own voting process according to its traditions. Nevertheless, they will have to respect the following principles:

• Direct or indirect consultation of individual members,
• Ratification of the result by a democratically-elected body of the party or organisation,
• Proportionality of votes within each delegation.

Results and their ratification

• February 2014: The PES will convene an extraordinary Congress to ratify the election of the candidate and to vote upon the Manifesto.

The results of the votes of member parties and organisations will first be aggregated at the PES Congress. In order to consolidate them, the votes of full member parties and organisations will be weighted on the basis of the breakdown of delegates in the PES Congress established according to the PES Statutes. If a candidate obtains an absolute majority of the weighted votes, he or she will be ratified by the PES Congress.

If no candidate obtains an absolute majority, a second round will be held between the two first candidates in the PES Congress by open ballot.

Voting procedures in member parties and organisations

France - PS

From November 2011 on, several leaders of the French parti socialiste have advocated for an open primary to determine the French vote on the PES candidate. They included former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard and former Vice President of the European Parliament Pierre Moscovici^[7].

References