New publication by Filip KOSTELKA on the decision to vote and abstain in the 2014 European elections (co-authored with André BLAIS, University of Montréal)

Mr Filip KOSTELKA, academic assistant at the European General Studies Programme (Bruges campus), co-authored a new article on electoral participation in the European elections of 2014 in the European Journal of Social Sciences.

Référence : André BLAIS, and Filip KOSTELKA. “The Decision to Vote or Abstain in the 2014 European Elections.” European Journal of Social Sciences, no. 53–1 (May 15, 2015): 79–94.

Abstract:

The article examines the individual decision to vote or to abstain in the 2014 European elections in seven Member States of the EU. We focus on the role of socio-demographic characteristics and attitudinal factors. The empirical analysis draws upon the Comparative EU Election Dataset with 22 000 observations. The main finding is that the explanatory factors that account for participation in European elections hardly differ from those that explain participation in national electoral contests. One difference pertains to the existence of a slight gender gap in the European elections. We also find that European identity favours electoral participation while the perceived performance of the EU exerts no effect. Last but not least, there are no systematic cross-country differences in the determinants of individual turnout between the “North” and the “South”, or the original and more recent EU Member States.

Note: Should you encounter difficulties to access the article, please, do not hesitate to contact Mr. KOSTELKA (filip.kostelka@coleurope.eu)