For those of you who became enthralled with the EU Parliamentary Elections due to The Monkey Cage’s coverage last week (here, here, and here), I wanted to bring to your attention that the results can now be found on the EU’s Website in 23 different languages. In addition, they have some very nifty graphical displays of the results here. CNN also has a nice, very concise, summary, of the results from about half of the countries. All in all, the NY Times reports:
Only 43 percent of Europeans voted — a record low turnout, despite the financial crisis and compulsory voting in some countries. Far-right parties, opposed to the European Union and to immigrants from poor member countries, recorded gains, as did the Greens. Those who did vote weighed in largely on national issues.
As an aside, I continue to wonder what it is that we are supposed to conclude from the fact that EU parliamentary elections had “record low turnout”. 43% of the population turning out for what is by all accounts a “2nd order” institution actually strikes me as a fairly high percentage of the population to vote in such an election. Ought we to expect EU parliamentary elections to attract as many voters as national elections? If the answer is no, then what is the correct benchmark? Off-year congressional elections in the US? State and local elections? Granted, there is obviously some interesting information in the fact that turnout has decreased in every year that EU parliamentary elections have been held, but at what point does lower turnout become a “problem”? Does lower turnout really signify a loss in support for the idea of Europe, or does it just reflect a growing understanding on the part of the European population that, at the end of the day, the EU parliament is not all that important a political institution? (And yes, this could still be the case despite the paradoxical fact that turnout has gone down as the actual powers of the EU parliament have increased.)
{ 4 comments }
I disagree with your analysis of turnout. Looking at the state-by-state turnout it’s clear there is no on-going trend there. Apart for France and the Netherlands (both with one exception), all states have no clear trend (the UK, apart for 1999, actually shows a trend upwards), and volatility is turnout is extreme (Ireland, for example, drops from 63 to 47, then jumps back to 69, 44, 50 and 58).
What accounts for the constant decline, however, is that new members, as a rule, show sub-average turnouts. Spain and Portugal both voted in the lower 50′s in their first European-wide elections, Austria, Sweden and Finland had showings ranging from 49 to 30, and the 10 new states added in time for the 2004 with a whopping (unweighted) average of 40.4% turnout (with Cyprus and Malta pulling this average artificially upwards, with 72 and 83 percent respectively).
Disillusionment with the EP? Not really. Just an expansion into new states that are nowhere as committed to the idea of a unified Europe and the original six.
(As a sidenote, the UK and the Netherlands, two late-comers into the union, also show poor turnouts. The third from that expansion, Belgium, probably has mandatory voting, in light of its high-80′s showing throughout the years).
I disagree with your analysis of turnout. Looking at the state-by-state turnout it’s clear there is no on-going trend there. Apart for France and the Netherlands (both with one exception), all states have no clear trend (the UK, apart for 1999, actually shows a trend upwards), and volatility is turnout is extreme (Ireland, for example, drops from 63 to 47, then jumps back to 69, 44, 50 and 58).
What accounts for the constant decline, however, is that new members, as a rule, show sub-average turnouts. Spain and Portugal both voted in the lower 50′s in their first European-wide elections, Austria, Sweden and Finland had showings ranging from 49 to 30, and the 10 new states added in time for the 2004 with a whopping (unweighted) average of 40.4% turnout (with Cyprus and Malta pulling this average artificially upwards, with 72 and 83 percent respectively).
Disillusionment with the EP? Not really. Just an expansion into new states that are nowhere as committed to the idea of a unified Europe and the original six.
(As a sidenote, the UK and the Netherlands, two late-comers into the union, also show poor turnouts. The third from that expansion, Luxemburg, probably has mandatory voting, in light of its high-80′s showing throughout the years).
(Ahem, thought I stopped in on time. The first one can be deleted – I wrote “Belgium” instead of “Luxemburg”).
(Also, I checked about Luxemburg – the EP elections always take place on the same day as their national elections, hence the high turn-out there).
(Gah, I knew I screwed up my expansions. Fine, Denmark and Ireland. Denmark fits my trend. Ireland less so. Still, my point stands).
(Last comment, I promise).
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