This is going to massively depend on which country you live in, but frequently neither.
Parties can pick who they like, but they often allow politicians and party members to vote as part of internal selection process.
In the UK only weirdos and political extremists are party members, and the Tory party tends to spend a lot of effort trying to stop their members from having a vote.
So of the last four prime ministers.
Sunak didn’t have a vote (lost to truss before that).
Truss won an internal vote.
Johnson won an internal vote.
May was uncontested.
And this is only the internal vote. All of them became prime minister without an election. Generally you vote for a party (some pedant will claim you vote for MPs, but they do what the party says) and then the leader can change while they’re in power.
Interesting, and I was aware of it somewhat thanks to John Oliver (lol) but it’s good to hear explained. Iirc, you’ve got like, four viable party options at least. Good you have a little clarification!
I asked since having Harris more or less pre-chosen reminded me of that.
This is going to massively depend on which country you live in, but frequently neither.
Parties can pick who they like, but they often allow politicians and party members to vote as part of internal selection process.
In the UK only weirdos and political extremists are party members, and the Tory party tends to spend a lot of effort trying to stop their members from having a vote.
So of the last four prime ministers.
Sunak didn’t have a vote (lost to truss before that).
Truss won an internal vote.
Johnson won an internal vote.
May was uncontested.
And this is only the internal vote. All of them became prime minister without an election. Generally you vote for a party (some pedant will claim you vote for MPs, but they do what the party says) and then the leader can change while they’re in power.
Fun fact: the Tories actually experimented with open primaries in some constituencies. I don’t expect that to last though
Interesting, and I was aware of it somewhat thanks to John Oliver (lol) but it’s good to hear explained. Iirc, you’ve got like, four viable party options at least. Good you have a little clarification!
I asked since having Harris more or less pre-chosen reminded me of that.