By Teodora Yovcheva (University of Sofia) On Sunday 14th November, Bulgarians went to the polling stations for the third time in eight months. This was the result of two elections, after which the political forces could not agree on government formation. The April election was the first regular one since 2009. The then incumbent ruling [...]
By Vlastimil Havlík (Masaryk University), and Jakub Wondreys (Independent researcher) The general election that took place in the Czech Republic last weekend deserves attention for several reasons. The major surprise is the electoral defeat of the incumbent technocratic populist party ANO (Action of Dissatisfied Citizens) led by Andrej Babiš and the victory of the right-wing [...]
By Catrina Schläger, Martin Güttler and Jan Niklas Engels (Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung) The Bundestag elections 2021 stand out in a number of respects. For the first time (with the exception of the first Bundestag election in 1949) there was no Chancellor seeking re-election. Furthermore, three parties were fielding a candidate for Chancellor. On top of that, the [...]
By Ólafur Th. Hardarson (University of Iceland) Parliamentary elections took place in Iceland last Saturday, September 25th 2021. The government coalition survived with a slightly increased majority. One of the government parties, the Progressive Party, was the main winner of the election, gaining 6.6%. The party of the prime minister, the Left-Green Movement, lost 4.3%, [...]
By Peter Egge Langsæther (University of Oslo) For the last eight years, Norway has been governed by various right-wing coalitions led by the Conservative party and their leader, Prime Minister Erna Solberg. As in many other countries, the main governing party received a decisive boost to its support as the corona pandemic threw Norway into [...]
By Victoria Olari (Institute for Strategic Initiatives) While the whole of Europe was watching the EURO 2020 final on Sunday night, somewhere in Eastern Europe there was a no less spectacular fight. Early parliamentary elections took place in the Republic of Moldova on July 11th. The vote was called by President Maia Sandu, thus fulfilling [...]
By Mila Moshelova (Sofia University) While Europeans were holding their breath for the Euro finals on 11 July Bulgaria was playing its second electoral match for 2021. Will there be more? The nine days wonder The regular parliamentary elections on 4 April gave life to the shortest and perhaps the rowdiest parliament but one that [...]
By Harout Manougian (Staff Writter, EVN Report) On Sunday, June 20, 2021, Armenian citizens went back to the polls for the third time in five years to elect its eighth parliament. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had come to an agreement with parliamentary opposition parties to hold this early election in the wake of the 2020 [...]
By Direnç Kanol (Near East University, Cyprus) The Republic of Cyprus is the only state with a presidential system in the EU. The House of Representatives is constituted by 56 Greek Cypriots and three observer members of the Latin, Armenian, and Maronite communities. In theory, 24 seats are reserved for the Turkish Cypriots which reflects [...]
By Arunas Grazulis (Political consultant) and Tamuna Bagratia (Independent expert) The political turmoil that marked the this winter in Georgia, starting from the questionable elections, peaking in detention of prominent opposition figure, resignation of Prime Minister, and did not ending with the international attempts to mitigate the domestic crisis, naturally raises multiple questions, the common [...]