David vs. Goliath of voter turnout: Why is the participation in EU elections so low?
Type
digital resource
Date Issued
2019-05-29
Author(s)
Abstract
The European Parliament election is one of the most significant elections in the world based on both the sheer number of entitled voters and the international significance of the parliament and its policies. The election turnout increased at the EU election 2019 for the first time in history. However, it seems that European citizens in the past have not realized the importance of this supranational election. So far, in all eight election cycles before the 2019 EU election the voter turnout has continued to decline leading to an all-time low of 42.62% in 2014. This is remarkable, especially because the Eurobarometer, which measures public opinion in relation to the EU, indicates that the reputation of the European Union in most of member states is constantly improving (European Commission, 2013 & 2018). While the turnout rates of national and European elections have decreased constantly over the decades, the turnout at the European election is on average 20-25% lower than for national elections. Although with the estimations of voter turnout at the EU election 2019 (≈50%) the gap is still above 15 % on average. What are the main reason for this discrepancies and what can we do about it?
Language
English
Keywords
European Election
Voter Turnout
Second Order Election
Voter Fatique
Spitzenkandidaten process
European Parliament Election 2019
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Publisher
EUreka! EURAC Blog
Publisher place
https://blogs.eurac.edu/eu-elections/david-vs-goliath-of-voter-turnout-why-is-the-participation-in-eu-elections-so-low/
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
257100