Voter participation and party-group fortunes in European parliament elections, 1979-1999: A cross-national analysis
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abstract
Scholars have addressed the relationship between voter participation and party electoral fortunes for some time. Specifically, a number of studies postulate that left-of-center parties are the primary beneficiaries of higher rates of voter turnout. This research note extends this argument to a classic low turnout environment: the elections to the European Parliament. Using data from 11 members of the European Union between 1979 and 1999, we test the turnout-party vote linkage through pooled cross-national time series analysis. We find that, indeed, increased turnout benefits the left party groups in the European Parliament. We conclude with some implications for this finding.
