So, I’ve been going on about who’s supporting who for the leadership of the PD, but I haven’t discussed logistics. Let’s do that now.

For those of you who are playing along at home, take a look at the party statute and the electoral rules agreed by the party leadership in June.

The election of the national secretary happens in four stages [continues after the drop]/

In the first stage, registered party members in the several thousand party circles (circoli) vote for candidates to the provincial conventions. Each candidate will have a list or lists of candidates supporting him. This first stage has to happen by the 30th of September.

Each circle elects a number of delegates to the provincial convention. These delegates are elected using a largest-remainders electoral formula, using, as a quota, the Hare quota.

In the second stage, the delegates to the provincial conventions vote for delegates to the national convention. This means another round of voting, although here delegates’ preferences are well-known, so we can merely expect a rather mechanical (re-) application of the same largest-remainders electoral formula.

In the third stage, the party holds its national convention, composed of 1,000 delegates elected at the provincial conventions, plus a limited number of ex ufficio members.

In order to get to the third stage, a candidate needs to have at least 5% of all votes from the first stage and be one of the top three highest-polling candidates, or have at least 15% of votes.

At the national convention, delegates first vote on the motions of each candidate. This is essentially a show of strength — it has no formal bearing on anything that comes next. Candidates who have done well might, however, try and use this occasion to propose changes to the party’s statute, Ethical Code, or “Manifesto of Values”.

The national convention will be held on the 11th October.

Following this, the fourth stage involves primaries held across the country. These primaries elect the members of the National Assembly (1,000 delegates), who form an electoral college. Delegates are elected in constituencies which receive a number of delegates based half on population and half on the votes won by the party in the most recent general election.

This electoral college then goes on to vote for the candidate for secretary. If any candidate gets more than 50% + 1  of all votes, s/he is elected; failing this, there is a run-off. The primaries will be held on the 25th October.

To vote in the primaries, you need to give the party your name, address, date of birth, and, optionally, an e-mail address; agree that the party can use these details to contact you; and donate €2 to the party to cover costs. There will be polling stations all across Italy. Turnout may be slightly higher than the three million who turned out to elect Veltroni party secretary back in 2007.

The worst-case scenario, from an institutional engineering point of view, is this: all three candidates win more than 5% of the vote; one candidate wins the floor vote in the national convention; but the popular vote in the primaries goes the other way. The party’s national *Assembly* deadlocks, and the spoiler candidate directs his delegates to vote for the candidate who best accommodates his program.

What now looks increasingly likely: all three candidates (thus Marino) will make it through to the national convention, but Bersani will win at all stages.