Table I

Evidence of the Second-Order European Election Phenomenon

  Turnout compared to previous national election
(%)
Voting differently in a hypothetical national election – ‘quasi-switching’
(%)
Member State 1989 1994 1989 1994
Belgium -2.7 -3.3 12.6 18.5
Denmark -38.3 -36.2 35.4 42.9
France -17.4 -25.3 27.2 40.8
Germany -22.0 -17.8 11.8 14.2
Greece -3.8 -8.8 8.1 12.4
Ireland -0.2b -24.2 28.7b 23.8
Italy -10.1 -11.3 19.7 20.7
Luxembourg -2.6b +0.2b 15.0b 14.3
The Netherlands -38.3 -43.1 12.4 19.6
Portugal -21.5 -33.4 9.7 12.7
Spain -15.9 -17.6 22.2 12.5
United Kingdom -38.8 -41.3 13.0 16.0
Average, all member states -17.6 -21.8 18.0 20.7
Average, excluding cases of concurrent national elections and compulsory voting -25.3 -27.8

Notes:
a
= member states where voting is compulsory
b
= cases where national elections and European elections were held concurrently
Sources:
Eijk & Franklin (1996), Hix (1999)

Table II

National and European Electoral Systems

  NATIONAL ELECTIONS EP ELECTIONS
Member State National Electoral System** National Elections Districting ** National Electoral Threshold* Electoral System*** Elections Districting*** *** Electoral Threshold *** Voters Choose Candidate?
Austria List - P.R. M 4% List - P.R. S 4% No
Belgium List - P.R. M List - P.R. M Yes
Denmark List - P.R. M 2% List - P.R. S Yes
Finland List - P.R. M none List - P.R. S Yes
France Majority-Plurality (2 rounds) S 5 % List - P.R. S 5 % No
Germany Mixed (Plurality-P.R) M+S 5 % List - P.R. S 5 % No
Greece List - P.R. M 3 %(N) List - P.R. S 3 % No
Ireland PR (STV) M none STV M Yes
Italy Mixed (Plurality-P.R.) M+S List - P.R. M Yes
Luxembourg List - P.R. M List - P.R. S Yes
Netherlands List - P.R. M 0.67%(N) List - P.R. S Yes
Portugal List - P.R. M none List - P.R. S No
Spain List - P.R. M 3 % (D) List - P.R. S No
Sweden List - P.R. M 4 % (N) List - P.R. S 4 % Yes
UK-Mainland, 1999 FPTP (Plurality) S List - P.R. M No
UK - Northern Ireland STV M STV S Yes
Sources:
*
Lijphart, A. et.al. (1994)
**
Blais, A. and Massicotte, L. (1997)
***
Hix, S. and Lord, (1997)
****
Hix, S. (1999b)
Note:
In fourteen (14) out of fifteen (15) member states, EP elections are held under a PR system of national list under which the whole country is one large constituency. Exceptions are Belgium with three constituencies (French-Dutch-German speaking), Italy with five, Ireland with four and United Kingdom with eighty-three. This difference among national elections describes the increased proportionality of the electoral outcomes, but is seems to be unhelpful in fostering links between citizens and MEPs (Gallagher, 1997).

Table III

Vote of Censure

Vote on the motion of censure of 14th of January, 1999
B DK D G E F IRL IT L NL AU P FIN S UK TOTAL
PSE 1   30               2     1 3 37
PPE 1 2 45     4   1     1   1 3 12 70
ELDR 6 4       1 1 3   10 1     3 3 32
UPE       2   10   1       1       14
V 2   12       2 1   1 1   1 4 1 25
GUE       4   6   2       3 1 2   18
ARE 1       1 2                   4
I-EDN   3       8       2         1 14
NI 3         8   1     6         18
TOTAL 14 9 87 6 1 39 3 9 0 13 11 4 3 13 20 232
 
PSE 5 4 5 6 20 14 1 18 2 7 4 10 4 6 53 159
PPE 3   1 5 28 5 4 27 2 1 6 7     2 91
ELDR         1       1       4     6
UPE           2 6 1       2       11
V                               0
GUE         2               1     3
ARE       1   7   2 1           2 13
I-EDN                               0
NI               10               10
TOTAL 8 4 6 12 51 28 11 58 6 8 10 19 9 6 57 293
 
PSE                             2 2
PPE 3     3   2       7     3 2 1 21
ELDR                               0
UPE           2                   2
V                               0
GUE                               0
ARE           2                   2
I-EDN                               0
NI                               0
TOTAL 3 0 0 3 0 6 0 0 0 7 0 0 3 2 3 27
 
TOTAL VOTES 25 13 93 21 52 73 14 67 6 28 21 23 15 21 80 552

Figure 1

European Parliament: Electoral Turnout (1979-1999)

Source: http://www2.europarl.eu.int/elections/results/en/maps_en.htm


©2000 by Muntean
formated and tagged by MN, 12.5.2000