Turnout in the European elections 2014 – implications for 2019
At a seminar 28 March 2019, the voter turnout of the European elections in 2014 was discussed and used as a basis to make some predictions about the turnout of the elections in May.
At a seminar 28 March 2019, the voter turnout of the European elections in 2014 was discussed and used as a basis to make some predictions about the turnout of the elections in May.
The upcoming elections to the European Parliament are expected to be more turbulent than previous elections. Forecasts are predicting more votes for populist parties in many countries as well as a weakening of the biggest party groups, the European Peoples’ Party (EPP) and the group of Socialists and Democrats (S&D).
What can we say about voter turnout in May, what should we expect in terms of turnout and protest votes and what could be the consequences for the functioning of the European Parliament?
Hermann Schmitt and Sebastian Adrian Popa, leading researchers at the University of Mannheim, presented their findings and Sofie Blombäck, lecturer in Political Science at the Mid-Sweden University, gave a Swedish perspective on the issues. Björn Kjellström, European Parliament, commented in the light of the European Parliament campaign This time I’m voting.