Nomination Process: Samara and Nomination

nomination process: If you see the nomination as a moment in a chain of democratic moments leading to the election of a member of Parliament, said Michael Morden, the director of research at Samara, I think it's notable that, in an overwhelming majority of cases, there's no real decision being made by local people, according to CTV. Morden said through exit interviews with MPs Samara has found there is broad, quiet understanding in political circles of the deficiencies of the nomination process. New research by the Toronto-based Samara Centre for Democracy shows only 17 per cent of more than 6,600 federal candidates from 2003 to 2015 faced competitive nomination races, while 2,700 candidates were directly appointed by parties. But he said most Canadians have little access to or ability to scrutinize the black box of party nominations, despite the stake they have in how parties run their internal elections. And a lack of competition might signal a worrying disconnect with the Canadian public, the study suggests. Political parties are private organizations, the Samara study says, but they're also public utilities that have a profound effect on Canadian democracy. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.