The Democrats have decided to reassess the role played by superdelegates in the primary process after a lengthy meeting of their rules committee.
Ahead of the Democratic National Convention, which officially begins on Monday, a deal has been worked out between supporters of both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton to revise the powers given to so-called "superdelegates".
The superdelegates, who are leading figures from within the party, can give their backing to one candidate outside of the primary process across the states. Originally, they were introduced to help ensure that the party selected the most viable candidates for election, acting as a balance against single-issue or populist politics which can dominate at the ballot box.
The Washington Post report that there will be a "unity commission" established to limit their role, and new language in the rules will bind a majority of the superdelegates to the primary results from their respective states.
The new rule states that: "Members of Congress, Governors, and distinguished party leaders remain unpledged and free to support their nominee of choice, but that remaining unpledged delegates [will] be required to cast their vote at the Convention for candidates in proportion to the vote received for each candidate in their state."
A vote on the new rules passed by a majority of 158 to 6.
Although it did not go as far as he wanted, the move will be seen as a victory for Bernie Sanders' camp, and one that key figures in the Democratic party may be happy to give him after Wikileaks released thousands of their emails on Friday.
Exchanges in the leaked documents include members of the DNC raising questions about Sanders' religious beliefs, as well as mention of trying to create a "narrative" around the Vermont senator's campaign which would attempt to portray that he "never ever had his act together, that his campaign was a mess."
Having watched the Republican Convention in Cleveland take place last week, and the fallout from Ted Cruz's refusal to endorse Donald Trump, the Democrats will be looking at "unity" as a rather key phrase throughout the event itself.
With Clinton not ceding a huge amount of ground in the rules committee (Sanders was unable to get all superdelegates bound, and independent voters will still need to register to vote in the Democratic primary process), some signs that ground needs to be made up between the two persist.
Furthermore, Sanders’ campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, told ABC News that "someone does have to be held accountable" over the email scandal.
Whether or not these bumps in the road will prove significant enough to cause ripples of discontent as speakers take to the stage remains to be seen, but it will be a worry that the party was hoping to avoid at this crucial stage.
