30 05, 2025

2025 legislative elections in Portugal: A tale of three poles

2025-05-30T18:08:04+01:00May 30th, 2025|

By José Santana Pereira (Iscte-University Institute of Lisbon) and Guya Accornero (Iscte-University Institute of Lisbon) On 18 May 2025, Portugal held snap legislative elections for the third time in just over three years. The results confirmed the governing centre-right coalition, Aliança Democrática (AD), as the most voted political force, although still far from securing an [...]

23 05, 2025

Albanians Still Believe in the European Dream

2025-05-30T17:56:10+01:00May 23rd, 2025|

By Ines Stasa (University of Tirana) More than three decades since the fall of communism, Albanians continue to believe in the European dream. That vision remains alive, as shown by the re-election of Prime Minister Edi Rama to a fourth term in office since he first assumed power in 2013. In the most recent general [...]

21 03, 2025

Austria: New government, old methods

2025-05-30T17:56:26+01:00March 21st, 2025|

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 [...]

15 03, 2025

Dissatisfaction, fragmentation and polarization: the 2025 Bundestag elections in Germany

2025-05-30T17:56:42+01:00March 15th, 2025|

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. [...]

14 03, 2025

Parliamentary Elections in Kosova 2025: Between Rising and Falling

2025-05-30T17:57:00+01:00March 14th, 2025|

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 [...]

10 02, 2025

Historical shift of power in Liechtenstein

2025-02-11T10:35:39+00:00February 10th, 2025|

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, [...]

6 12, 2024

Irish General Election 2024: More of the same

2024-12-06T15:09:14+00:00December 6th, 2024|

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 [...]

5 12, 2024

Government coalition loses power in Iceland – as in five out of six elections since the bank crash of 2008

2024-12-06T16:50:28+00:00December 5th, 2024|

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 [...]

19 11, 2024

Bulgarian Democracy: Ballots or Bailouts

2024-11-19T18:35:06+00:00November 19th, 2024|

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, [...]

28 10, 2024

2024 parliamentary elections in Lithuania: a sweeping victory of the left

2024-10-28T08:42:17+00:00October 28th, 2024|

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 [...]