By Filip Milacic (Central European University) 154 days after the election, the Austrian government was formed by the conservative People's Party (ÖVP), the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) and the liberal Neos. It was the longest government formation negotiation in the country's history. The three parties put aside their differences, which initially led to [...]
By Sabine Pokorny (Konrad Adenauer Stiftung) The 2025 Bundestag elections call supposed certainties into question. For a long time, the impact of the voters’ social status on voting behaviour declined. Voting behaviour was very volatile and voters changed between political parties of all directions. Candidates were getting more and more important for the voting decision. [...]
By Hanife Osmani (Independent journalist) On February 9, 2025, the Republic of Kosova conducted its parliamentary elections to determine the composition of its 120-member Assembly. These elections were pivotal, reflecting the nation’s evolving political dynamics and its commitment to democratic processes. Electoral results The incumbent party, Vetëvendosje (VV), led by Prime Minister Albin Kurti, secured [...]
By Wilfried Marxer (Liechtenstein Institute) Parliamentary elections were held in Liechtenstein last Sunday, 9 February 2025. The election Sunday ended very differently for the two traditionally dominant parties, which have been in office in a joint governing coalition almost without interruption for decades: the Vaterländische Union (Patriotic Union; VU), as the majority party in government, [...]
By Jonathan Arlow (University of Liverpool) The General Election continued the trend for fragmentation in the Irish party system, with the three big beasts of Irish politics – Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and Sinn Féin – all winning between 19 to 22 per cent of the vote share. The Irish electorate has also bucked the [...]
By Ólafur Th. Hardarson (University of Iceland) Parliamentary election took place in Iceland last Saturday, November 30th 2024. The government coalition – which had been in power since 2017, lost its majority with a big bang. In 2021, the governing parties, the left-socialist Left Greens, the conservative Independence Party and the centre-right Progressive Party obtained [...]
By Mila Mo (Sofia University) Twelve. That’s the number of ballots Bulgarians have cast since April 2021, including seven in National Elections. And while elections are a normal democratic mechanism, this frequency is highly unusual. One thing is certain - it may sound like many different elections, but the issues remain the same. Veni, Vidi, [...]
By Rokas Stabingis (Independent Scholar) The math did not add up after the 1st round The 13th of October, Lithuanians elected half of the parliament in the multi-member constituency (70 MPs) under the proportional electoral system and 8 out of 71 in the single-member constituencies under the majoritarian electoral system, as they received the support [...]
By Jan Rovny (Science Po, Paris) A strange mix of relief, apprehension, and disorientation permeates through Paris after the second round of the extraordinary legislative elections. Relief because, despite projections of a possible absolute majority for the radical right Rassemblement national (RN), the RN was held back from power by a historically high level of [...]
By William Horncastle (University of Bedfordshire) Last Thursday, the British electorate went to the polls in the first general election since 2019. As one of the most consequential events of the 21st Century, the election represented a victory for Kier Starmer, who won Labour their first election since 2005, ending 14 years of Conservative government [...]