Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
1052459 Electoral Studies 2008 12 Pages PDF
Abstract

The relatively low voter turnout rates in the June 2004 European Parliamentary elections in many of the post-communist states surprised observers. While the average turnout rate for these new-EU member states barely surpassed 30%, turnout exhibited much variance at the national and sub-national levels. In this article, we study the economic and political determinants of European Parliamentary voter turnout in the post-communist countries using a unique region-level dataset. Our regression results reveal that regional unemployment rates have a statistically significant impact on turnout. Regions with higher unemployment rates experienced lower turnout, even after controlling for political and socio-demographic factors. In contrast to some previous work on the impact of EU support on EP turnout, our study uncovers a positive relationship between these two variables. Further, we show that the timing of the election relative to the next national election and the frequency of elections affected turnout.

Related Topics
Social Sciences and Humanities Social Sciences Geography, Planning and Development
Authors
, ,