Abstract

The chapter outlines the cost and funding possibilities for party primaries. It especially focuses on how states might facilitate or hinder the use of party primary elections through either direct or indirect funding regulations. The chapter first outlines the different costs of primaries and how they can vary depending on the type of contest and the manner of its organization. The second part of the chapter outlines the regulatory environment and its consequences for intra-party democracy for the cases of Italy, the US, the UK and Germany. It shows that finance regulations are at the heart of determining if primaries are used or not and whether or not they positively affect intra-party democracy. The chapter demonstrates how the funding of primaries can have an impact on intra-party power distribution as it determines who has control over finance.