The impact of motivational and contextual factors on turnout in first- and second-order elections

Based on voter survey from European election study 2009, we examine the impact of one individual-level motivational factor, i.e. interest in politics, and its interactions with institutional and contextual factors such as compulsory voting, electoral competition and the number of parties on participation in 2009 EP elections and previous national elections. The results show that political interest is more closely connected to turnout in second-order elections which are usually considered less salient. Correspondingly, also the contingent effect of compulsory voting and competition is more evident in EP elections. While compulsory voting substantially decreases the turnout gap between the most and least politically attentive voters in both types of elections, the moderating effect of competitiveness is found only in EP elections.

► The impact of political interest on participation in European and national elections.
► Interactions with compulsory voting, closeness of elections and number of parties.
► Political interest is more strongly connected to turnout in European elections.
► Compulsory voting decreases the turnout gap between the most and least interested.
►  Closeness of elections decreases the turnout gap only in European elections.