By Ingrid van Biezen (University of Leiden) Liberal parties on the rise After a tame and uninspiring campaign, Prime Minister Mark Rutte led his party (VVD) to win the Dutch elections for the fourth time in a row. With over 88 per cent of the vote counted,* the liberal-conservatives look to obtain 36 seats (out [...]
By Peter Učeň (independent researcher, policy analyst, consultant and evaluator) and Oľga Gyárfášová (Comenius University in Bratislava) Previous general election in Slovakia took place on February 29, 2020. While there is no formal reason to celebrate the recent anniversary, the glance on how the party scene changes during that one year of the “Corona governance” [...]
By Kaltrina Beqiri (Independent scholar, graduated at the University of Prishtina) Only sixteen months after his last electoral success, former Prime Minister Albin Kurti has managed to lead his party, Self-determination Movement (LVV), to an even greater success. The context After the fall of Kurti’s government in March 2020, his junior coalition partner was able [...]
By Gianluca Piccolino (University of Trieste) and Leonardo Puleo (Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies) It is still unclear whether Mario Draghi will lead the next Italian government. The attempts to form another government led by Giuseppe Conte failed for the same reasons which led to the collapse of his second cabinet, namely the resoluteness of [...]
By Martin Mölder (University of Tartu) The new year in Estonian politics began with a political shock that came as a surprise to all and as a relief to many. Even though the 2019 parliamentary elections were won by the Reform Party, it did not get a chance to form a government back then. The [...]
By Mihail Chiru (University of Oxford) The elections held this weekend produced the lowest turnout in Romania’s history: 33.3% and a number of outcomes which were not predicted by the opinion polls. This was supposed to be an election which would swiftly confirm the rule of the National Liberal Party (PNL, member of EPP) and [...]
By Joseph Alexander Smith (Independent researcher and former political candidate) Georgia’s fractious parliamentary elections will be hailed as a milestone by some, but they also reveal a deeply troubled society that is struggling to stay on the narrow path of peaceful democratic transition. Preliminary results are in Preliminary results in Georgia’s parliamentary elections give the [...]
By Rokas Stabingis (Independent Scholar) The voter turnout seems not to be affected by the COVID-19 In the face of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Lithuania has elected its new parliament Seimas of 141 MPs. The voter turnout in the I round on 11 of October was 47 %, i.e insignificantly lower than [...]
By Nemanja Batrićević (University of Montenegro) On 30th of August 2020, Montenegro held its fifth and the most polarizing election since the Referendum in May of 2006. With pre-election polling data showing the predominant Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) at the ‘historical minimum’ (ranging from 35% to 40%), the opposition, organized around three ideologically congruent [...]
By Liljana Pecova Ilieska (IMPETUS: Center for Internet, Development and Good Governance) In North Macedonia parliamentary elections took place between 13th and 15th July: voting of the Covid-19 patients and those in self-isolation starting on Monday, the sick, weak and convicted people voted on Tuesday, while Wednesday, for all other citizens, 15th of April was [...]