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A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a
political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...
determine who will be the
leader Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...
of their party. Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a leadership election is to be held for that party. In the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, for example: A leadership election may be required at intervals set by party rules, or it may be held in response to a certain proportion of those eligible to vote expressing a lack of confidence in the current leadership. In the UK Conservative Party, for example, "a leadership election can be triggered by a vote of no confidence by Conservative MPs in their current leader".Peter Joyce, ''Politics: A Complete Introduction: Teach Yourself'' (2015), p. 112. Strictly speaking, a leadership election is a completely internal affair. An intra-party election held to select its candidates for external offices, such as a
president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
,
governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
,
prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
or member of a legislature is called a primary election. Leadership elections have great importance in parliamentary systems, where the chief executive (e.g.: a
Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
) derives their mandate from a parliamentary majority and the party's internal leaders hold frontbench positions within the parliament, if not outright serving in a ministerial post – whether as Prime Minister in the case of the leading government party, or another Ministerial post for junior coalition partners. For that reason, most parliamentary systems do not hold dedicated Prime Ministerial primaries at all, but simply select their internal leader as their candidate for Prime Minister. However, leadership elections are often similar to primary elections in that in the vast majority of instances, a party's leader will become
prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
(in a federal election) or
premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of govern ...
/
chief minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...
/
first minister A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of ' ...
(in a province, state, territory, or other first-level administrative subdivision) should their party enter government with the most seats. Thus, a leadership election is also often considered to be one for the party's de facto candidate for prime minister or premier/chief minister/first minister, just as a primary is one for a party's candidate for president. An
electoral alliance An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections. E ...
, which is composed of multiple parties each with its own separate leader and organs, may also hold a common Prime Ministerial primary as in the 2021 Hungarian opposition primary, or a single party may wish to retain its leader but select someone else as its Prime Ministerial candidate, as the Portuguese Socialist Party has done in 2014. In presidential and
semi-presidential systems A semi-presidential republic, or dual executive republic, is a republic in which a president exists alongside a prime minister and a cabinet, with the latter two being responsible to the legislature of the state. It differs from a parliamenta ...
, the chief executive (the
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
) can only be removed by an
impeachment Impeachment is a process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In Eur ...
procedure, which can only be initiated in specific situations and by a special procedure (typically involving a legislative
supermajority A supermajority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority rules in a democracy can help to prevent a majority from eroding fun ...
, an investigation by a
constitutional court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...
, or both), and removal entails either a
snap election A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Snap elections in parliamentary systems are often called to resolve a political impasse such as a hung parliament where no single political party has a ma ...
or automatic succession to office by a
Vice president A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...
. As a result, leadership elections are largely background events, as the ruling party's policies are determined by the President, not by the party's internal leader. However, some systems allow one person to serve as both the President and the leader of the ruling party simultaneously, or even mandate it (such as the
Democratic Progressive Party The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a centre to centre-left Taiwanese nationalist political party in Taiwan. As the dominant party in the Pan-Green Coalition, one of the two main political camps in Taiwan, the DPP is currently the ...
in Taiwan). However, this is not entirely comparable to the parliamentary situation, as the
majority A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the "#Related terms, Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a Set (mathematics), set consisting of more than half of the se ...
and minority leaders of political parties in presidential systems are not the chief executive of their country (as a
prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
would be), but are rather officers of the legislative branch of their country, a position similar to the floor leader (which similarly is a post subservient to the
prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
) of a political party in a parliamentary system which likewise doesn't hold mass enfranchised elections for such a post. In the
Anglosphere The Anglosphere, also known as the Anglo-American world, is a Western-led sphere of influence among the Anglophone countries. The core group of this sphere of influence comprises five developed countries that maintain close social, cultura ...
, Political parties in
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
(
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
, Liberal, New Democratic and the Green party) and in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
( Labour,
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
, Liberal Democrats and Green party) hold leadership elections where members of the party vote for the Leader. In
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, the Liberal and Green party don't let members vote in leadership election, Labor last held a membership vote on the leadership in 2013. In
New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
, the National and Green party don't let members vote in leadership election, Labour last held a membership vote on the leadership in 2014.


North America


Canada

* 2020 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election * 2022 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election * 2020 Green Party of Canada leadership election * 2022 Green Party of Canada leadership election * 2013 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election * 2025 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election * 2017 New Democratic Party leadership election


Trinidad and Tobago


People's National Movement

* 2022 People's National Movement leadership election * 2020 Tobago Council of the People's National Movement leadership election * 2022 Tobago Council of the People's National Movement leadership election


United National Congress

* 2020 United National Congress leadership election * 2022 United National Congress leadership election


Europe


Austria

* 2023 Social Democratic Party of Austria leadership election


Croatia


Social Democratic Party of Croatia

* Elections in the Social Democratic Party of Croatia


Finland

*
2017 Finns Party leadership election The 2017 Finns Party leadership election was held in Jyväskylä, Finland, on June 10, 2017, to elect the new chair of the Finns Party. All members of the party who had paid their subscription were allowed to vote in the election. The incumbent ...
* 2021 Finns Party leadership election


Germany

* 2021 Christian Democratic Union of Germany leadership election *
2019 Social Democratic Party of Germany leadership election The 2019 Social Democratic Party of Germany leadership election took place in the autumn of 2019 to elect the new leadership of the Social Democratic Party of Germany following the resignation of the Andrea Nahles on 3 June 2019. Although the lead ...


Greece

* 2015–16 New Democracy leadership election * 2017 Greek centre-left leadership election


Ireland


Fine Gael

* 2017 Fine Gael leadership election


Labour Party

* 2016 Labour Party leadership election (Ireland)


Fianna Fáil

* 1959 Fianna Fáil leadership election * 1966 Fianna Fáil leadership election * 1979 Fianna Fáil leadership election * 1992 Fianna Fáil leadership election * 1994 Fianna Fáil leadership election * 2008 Fianna Fáil leadership election * 2011 Fianna Fáil leadership election


Italy

* 2013 Lega Nord leadership election * 2017 Five Star Movement leadership election * 2017 Italian Left leadership election * 2017 Lega Nord leadership election * 2019 More Europe leadership election * 2021 More Europe leadership election * 2021 Five Star Movement leadership election


Democratic Party

* 2007 Democratic Party (Italy) leadership election * 2009 Democratic Party (Italy) leadership election * 2013 Democratic Party (Italy) leadership election * 2017 Democratic Party (Italy) leadership election * 2019 Democratic Party (Italy) leadership election


Netherlands

*
2006 People's Party for Freedom and Democracy leadership election The 2006 People's Party for Freedom and Democracy leadership election was called to elect the new Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy after incumbent Jozias van Aartsen announced his retirement from national politics. Mark Rutte ...
* 2020 Christian Democratic Appeal leadership election * 2006 Democrats 66 leadership election *
2016 Labour Party (Netherlands) leadership election The 2016 Labour Party (Netherlands), Labour Party leadership election was called to elect the new Leader of the Labour Party (Netherlands), Leader of the Labour Party after incumbent Diederik Samsom announced a leadership election to select the '' ...


Portugal

* 2020 Portuguese Social Democratic Party leadership election


Spain

*
Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...
: (
2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...
) * People's Party: (
2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
) * Podemos: (
2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...
)


United Kingdom

*
2019 British National Party leadership election The British National Party (BNP) leadership election of 2019 took place in July 2019 to elect the leader of the BNP. Four years had passed since the previous election in 2015, and the party constitution required a leadership election to be hel ...
* October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election * June 2021 Democratic Unionist Party leadership election * 2021 Green Party of England and Wales leadership election *
2020 Labour Party leadership election (UK) The 2020 Labour Party leadership election was triggered after Jeremy Corbyn announced his intention to resign as the leader of the Labour Party following the party's defeat at the 2019 general election. It was won by Keir Starmer, who receive ...
*
2020 Liberal Democrats leadership election The 2020 Liberal Democrats leadership election was held in August 2020, after Jo Swinson, the previous leader of the Liberal Democrats, lost her seat in the 2019 general election. It was initially set to be held in July 2020, but due to the C ...
* 2023 Scottish National Party leadership election * 2015 Social Democratic and Labour Party leadership election * 2021 UK Independence Party leadership election * 2021 Ulster Unionist Party leadership election


Conservative Party

* 2005 Conservative Party leadership election * 2016 Conservative Party leadership election * 2019 Conservative Party leadership election * July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election *
2024 Conservative Party leadership election The 2024 Conservative Party leadership election was announced on 5 July 2024 when then-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declared his intention to resign as Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party leader follo ...


Labour Party

*
1922 Labour Party leadership election (UK) The 1922 Labour Party leadership election was the first leadership election for the posts of chairman and leader of the Parliamentary Labour Party. Previously the position had been simply the "Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party". The ...
*
1931 Labour Party leadership election The 1931 Labour Party leadership election took place after the expulsion of incumbent Leader Ramsay MacDonald from the Labour Party. As Labour leader, MacDonald had been Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister in 1924 and from 1929 ...
* 1932 Labour Party leadership election *
1935 Labour Party leadership election The 1935 Labour Party leadership election took place on 26 November 1935 when Herbert Morrison and Arthur Greenwood challenged Clement Attlee, the incumbent party leader of only one month and one day. Attlee, previously Deputy Leader, had bee ...
*
1955 Labour Party leadership election The 1955 Labour Party leadership election was held following the resignation of Clement Attlee. Attlee was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister from 1945 to 1951 and stayed on as Leader of the Labour Party (UK), party leader unt ...
* 1960 Labour Party leadership election * 1961 Labour Party leadership election * 1963 Labour Party leadership election (UK) * 1976 Labour Party leadership election * 1980 Labour Party leadership election (UK) * 1983 Labour Party leadership election (UK) * 1988 Labour Party leadership election (UK) * 1992 Labour Party leadership election * 1994 Labour Party leadership election *
2007 Labour Party leadership election (UK) The 2007 Labour Party leadership election was triggered on 10 May 2007 by incumbent leader Tony Blair's announcement that he would resign as leader on 27 June. At the same time that Blair resigned, John Prescott resigned as Deputy Leader, trigg ...
*
2010 Labour Party leadership election (UK) The 2010 Labour Party leadership election was triggered on 10 May 2010 by incumbent leader Gordon Brown's resignation following the 2010 general election which resulted in a hung parliament; the first since 1974. Brown resigned as Leader of ...
*
2015 Labour Party leadership election (UK) The 2015 Labour Party leadership election was triggered by the resignation of Ed Miliband as Leader of the Labour Party on 8 May 2015, following the party's defeat at the 2015 general election. Harriet Harman, the Deputy Leader, became Act ...
*
2016 Labour Party leadership election (UK) The 2016 Labour Party leadership election was called when a challenge to Jeremy Corbyn as Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party arose following criticism of his approach to the Remain campaign in the 2016 United Kingdom Eur ...
*
2020 Labour Party leadership election (UK) The 2020 Labour Party leadership election was triggered after Jeremy Corbyn announced his intention to resign as the leader of the Labour Party following the party's defeat at the 2019 general election. It was won by Keir Starmer, who receive ...


Liberal Party/Social Democrats/Liberal Democrats

* 1967 Liberal Party leadership election * 1976 Liberal Party leadership election * 1982 Social Democratic Party leadership election * 1988 Social and Liberal Democrats leadership election * 1999 Liberal Democrats leadership election * 2006 Liberal Democrats leadership election *
2007 Liberal Democrats leadership election The 2007 Liberal Democrats leadership election was held following the resignation of Sir Menzies Campbell as leader on 15 October 2007, after 19 months as leader of the Liberal Democrats (UK), Liberal Democrats, the third-largest political party ...
* 2015 Liberal Democrats leadership election * 2017 Liberal Democrats leadership election * 2019 Liberal Democrats leadership election *
2020 Liberal Democrats leadership election The 2020 Liberal Democrats leadership election was held in August 2020, after Jo Swinson, the previous leader of the Liberal Democrats, lost her seat in the 2019 general election. It was initially set to be held in July 2020, but due to the C ...


Africa


South Africa


African National Congress

* 54th National Conference of the African National Congress


Democratic Alliance

* 2020 Democratic Alliance Federal Congress


Asia


Republic of China (Taiwan)


Democratic Progressive Party

* 2006 Democratic Progressive Party chairmanship election * 2008 Democratic Progressive Party chairmanship election


Kuomintang

* 2001 Kuomintang chairmanship election * 2005 Kuomintang chairmanship election * 2007 Kuomintang chairmanship election * 2009 Kuomintang chairmanship election * 2013 Kuomintang chairmanship election * 2015 Kuomintang chairmanship election * 2016 Kuomintang chairmanship election * 2017 Kuomintang chairmanship election * 2020 Kuomintang chairmanship election * 2021 Kuomintang chairmanship election


India


Indian National Congress

* 2022 Indian National Congress leadership election


Israel


Israeli Labor Party

* 1992 Israeli Labor Party leadership election * 2007 Israeli Labor Party leadership election * 2011 Israeli Labor Party leadership election * 2013 Israeli Labor Party leadership election * 2017 Israeli Labor Party leadership election * 2019 Israeli Labor Party leadership election * 2021 Israeli Labor Party leadership election


Kadima

* 2008 Kadima leadership election *
2012 Kadima leadership election An election for the leadership of Kadima was held on 27 March 2012, pitting Tzipi Livni against Shaul Mofaz. Mofaz won with 62% of the vote. Background In November 2011, the three candidates opposed to Tzipi Livni in 2008 called for a primary to ...


Likud

* 2012 Likud leadership election * 2014 Likud leadership election * 2019 Likud leadership election


Oceania


Australia


Australian Labor Party

* October 2013 Australian Labor Party leadership election


New Zealand


New Zealand Labour Party

* 2013 New Zealand Labour Party leadership election * 2014 New Zealand Labour Party leadership election


See also

*
Primary elections Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pri ...
, a similar concept used to select a party's candidates for external office instead of its internal leadership *
Leadership convention {{Politics of Canada In Politics of Canada, Canadian politics, a leadership convention is held by a political party when the party needs to choose a leadership, leader due to a vacancy or a challenge to the incumbent leader. Overview In Canada, ...
(
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
) *
Leadership spill In Australian politics, a leadership spill (or simply a spill) is a declaration that the leadership of a parliamentary party is vacant and open for contest. A spill may involve all or some of the leadership positions (leader and deputy leader in ...
(
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
)


References

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