Objective/context:

This article aims to characterize the mechanisms of inter-party primary elections for the selection of candidacies, to build a typology of inter-party primaries, and to explore the particularities of this phenomenon based on its use and effects in the presidential election of Colombia 2022.

Methodology:

An empirical-descriptive case study is developed based on the analysis of the electoral results of the inter-party consultations and the presidential elections of 2022.

Conclusions:

It is emphasized that inter-party primary elections constitute a novel mechanism that seeks coordination between party and non-party organizations for the definition of a unified candidacy in presidential elections. In this process, electoral participation, ideological coherence and internal competitiveness are factors that can help explain the internal power distribution of the coalition and the subsequent electoral performance of the candidacy.

Originality:

This article contributes to the literature by proposing an analytical framework for understanding inter-party primaries as a mechanism for selecting presidential candidacies, and expands the existing knowledge about the phenomenon, whose unit of analysis has been predominantly party organizations.