Amerikanske primærvalg: Hvad er det?

In connection with the presidential election in USA we will in the following months often hear the word ”primary election”. But what does it really mean?

The purpose of a primary election is that the great parties, the Democrats and the Republicans, in each state have to find the person they want as the candidate of the party to the presidential election in November.

The official candidate is appointed at the clerical conventions of the parties, which takes place for the Democrats on the 25th-28th August in Denver and for Republicans on the 1st-4th September 2008 in Minneapolis.

But usually one of the candidates has ensured the majority of the votes in the primary elections. That is why the convention is more a media event when it is about to show agreement in the party, than a decisive appointment. Since the Second World War most surprises at the party conventions have been the election of the vice-president.

In Iowa on the 3rd of January Barack Obama won for the Democrats and Mick Huckabee for the Republicans. It means that the delegated democrats from Iowa will vote for Obama to the party conventions of the Democrats, and likewise the republicans want to vote for Huckabee.