Elections in Europe: 2022
Scientific Council
Prof. Dr. Sylvia Kritzinger, Prof. Dr. Marc Swyngedouw, Prof. Dr. Michal Kubát, Prof. Dr. Marc Debus, Prof. Dr. Rune Stubager, Prof. Dr. Piret Ehin, Prof. Dr. Irene Martín Cortés, Prof. Dr. Hanna Wass, Prof. Dr. Bruno Cautrès, Prof. Dr. Pierre Martin, Dr. Florent Parmentier, Prof. Dr. Theodore Chadjipandelis, Prof. Dr. Goran Čular, Prof. Dr. Gábor Tóka, Dr. Lorenzo Castellani, Prof. Dr. Diego Garzia, Prof. Dr. Ainė Ramonaitė, Prof. Dr. Philippe Poirier, Prof. Dr. Jānis Ikstens, Prof. Dr. Mark Harwood, Prof. Dr. Jacek Wojnicki, Prof. Dr. Marina Costa Lobo, Dr. Sorina Cristina Soare, Prof. Dr. Maria Oskarson, Prof. Dr. Alenka Krašovec, Prof. Dr. Olga Gyárfášova, Prof. Dr. Arjan Schakel
Directors of Publication
Ramona Bloj, Gilles Gressani
Editor-in-Chief
François Hublet
Scientific Advisor
Dr. Nicolas Leron
Editorial team
Jean-Toussaint Battestini, Lucie Coatleven, Jean Cotte, Michał Ekiert, Charlotte von Born-Fallois, Adrian Fraus, Charlotte Kleine, Mattéo Lanoë, Sofia Marini, Johanna Schleyer
The Continental Review
Europe, 2022: Democracy in the Shadow of War
The year 2022 will probably go down in history as a year of great violence, of utmost international tension, and of considerable global uncertainty. Not only did Russia’s war against Ukraine bring back mass killings and the specter of a nuclear confrontation on the top of the European agenda. As further evidence of irreversible climate … Continued
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The Continental Review
Evolution of the results of European groups We open this summary with an analysis of the evolution of the balance of power between the different European political families in 2022. For this purpose, as in previous issues of BLUE, the results of national and regional parties are aggregated according to their groups in the European … Continued
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Elections in the European Union
Regional elections in Finland, 23 January 2022
A new type of election in Finland The first-ever county elections were conducted in Finland on 23 January 2022. The elections were held as a result of a health and social services (SOTE) reform, which is one of the largest administrative reforms in the country’s history. The key objective of the SOTE reform is to … Continued
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Parliamentary election in Portugal, 30 January 2022
Background The Portuguese party system has been named an “island of stability” in the European political landscape, as it did not suffer any electoral earthquake or major reconfiguration of party competition in recent years. This was remarkable given the deep transformation of party systems experienced by Southern European countries hit by the Great Recession. The … Continued
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Regional election in Castilla y León, 13 February 2022
In 2022, for the first time, the regional election in Castilla y León was organized independently of other regional or national ballots; the previous elections had been held on the same day as the municipal elections and the regional elections in most of Spain’s Autonomous Communities. This change was accompanied by a slight loss in … Continued
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Parliamentary election in Malta, 26 March 2022
Introduction Malta is the EU’s smallest and most densely populated country, situated south of Italy in the central Mediterranean. A British colony for 160 years, it gained independence in 1964 and joined the EU in 2004. A unitary state, its political system is based on the Westminster model and its main political parties were established … Continued
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Regional election in Saarland, 27 March 2022
The Saarland state election in 2022 was the first after Olaf Scholz (SPD) was elected chancellor in the 2021 federal election and Friedrich Merz (CDU) was elected federal party leader. While the election was in any case a tough challenge for the Saarland Christian Democrats, who had occupied the Saarbrücken State Chancellery for 22 years … Continued
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Parliamentary election in Hungary, 3 April 2022
The 2022 Hungarian national elections resulted in the rearrangement of the country’s party system. The governing party Fidesz was re-elected for the 4th time with an absolute majority and thus re-occupied the central force position, the “central magnetic field,” whereas opposition parties remained ideologically diverse, fragmented, and rather weightless regarding their legitimacy and political representation. … Continued
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Presidential and legislative elections in France, April-June 2022
The 2022 national election sequence in France (presidential and legislative elections) came at the end of a five-year period in which most intermediate elections (the 2020 municipal elections and the 2021 departmental and regional elections) had been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the ongoing health crisis, the results of these intermediate elections had … Continued
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Parliamentary election in Slovenia, 24 April 2022
In Slovenia, parliamentary elections were held on 24 April 2022. These were the first regular parliamentary elections since 2008, a sign of a political turbulence in the country over the past 15 years. The elections were characterized by a high turnout of 70.79%, the highest since the new millennium. The Freedom movement (Freedom-RE) led by … Continued
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Regional election in Schleswig-Holstein, 8 May 2022
Introduction and context In the run-up to the state election that was held in Schleswig-Holstein on May 8, 2022, a few key issues shared with other European regions have received the most public attention. Not only the still ongoing Covid-19 pandemic was a present topic, but also rising inflation figures, Russia’s war against Ukraine (that … Continued
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Regional election in North Rhine-Westphalia, 15 May 2022
In Germany, the state election in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) is often, and not without reason, dubbed a ‘small[er] federal election’ (Skroblies 2019: 159). With just under 18 million inhabitants, NRW is the most populous state in the Federal Republic of Germany, and its elections have always had, and probably still have, a direct impact on … Continued
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Danish defense opt-out referendum, 1 June 2022
Introduction In a historic referendum on June 1st 2022, the Danish citizens voted in favor of removing the country’s defense opt-out. As a result, Denmark joins all of the other member states in participating in EU defense policy cooperation. The referendum was announced by the Danish government on 6 March 2022 following a broad multi-party … Continued
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Regional election in Andalusia, 19 June 2022
The June 2022 elections in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia resulted in an absolute majority for the PP (Partido Popular), which obtained 43.11% of the vote and 58 of the 109 seats that make up the Andalusian Parliament. These elections also confirmed the decline of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) in the region: with … Continued
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Parliamentary election in Sweden, 11 September 2022
The context of the election The 2022 election was heavily influenced by a turbulent previous parliamentary period, with several simultaneous crises as a backdrop. This turbulence is indicative of the breakdown of the traditional political blocs and the drawing of new political boundaries. For most of 20th century, Swedish politics consisted of a left-wing bloc, … Continued
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Regional election in Tyrol, 25 September 2022
Initial situation and context The Tyrol, known throughout Europe since the 1800s thanks to its mountains and the emergence of alpinism, was still deeply Catholic and politically conservative in the decades following World War II. The saying “Loyalty is Tyrolean custom” was confirmed by the conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) receiving a high share of … Continued
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Parliamentary election in Italy, 25 September 2022
Introduction On the 25th of September 2022, a snap election took place in Italy. In a rushed political campaign, mainly revolving around coalition (dis)agreements, Italians were called to renew both Chambers of Parliament. Despite the technicalities of the electoral system and the substantial reduction in the number of MPs added some uncertainty to the final … Continued
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Regional election in Sicily, 25 September 2022
Introduction The center-right won the September 25 Sicilian regional election, its second victory in a row following its win in the 2017 ballot. Renato Schifani, former president of the Senate, is the new regional president and succeeds outgoing president Nello Musumeci, who did not run again due to internal conflicts within the center-right coalition (Adn … Continued
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Parliamentary election in Latvia, 1 October 2022
The 100-strong unicameral legislature of Latvia, the Saeima, is elected on the first Saturday of October once in four years. The country operates a flexible party list system affording voters the option of casting both negative and positive preference votes. The threshold of five per cent of valid ballots nationally is aimed at reducing the … Continued
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Parliamentary election in Bulgaria, 2 October 2022
On 2 October 2022, Bulgaria held its fourth parliamentary vote within 18 months, thus making the notorious record of being the established democracy with most parliamentary elections within the shortest period of time. These elections had the lowest turnout since the democratization of Bulgaria in 1990: only 39.4% decided to go to the polls. The … Continued
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Presidential Election in Austria, 9 October 2022
Introduction On October 9, 2022, Alexander Van der Bellen was re-elected as Austrian President, starting his second and last term in office. In the following, we describe the institutional role of the Austrian President, some historical aspects as well as the 2016 and 2022 elections which are closely connected. Institutional role of the Austrian President … Continued
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Regional election in Lower Saxony, 9 October 2022
The election campaign The state election in Lower Saxony on 9 October 2022 was the first election in Germany since the reduction of Russian gas supplies to Germany (in stages starting in mid-June 2022) and the attacks on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines (in late September 2022). The dominant federal political theme in … Continued
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Presidential election in Slovenia, 23 October 2022
Introduction Although Slovenia has a parliamentary political system, the President of the Republic is elected in direct elections by secret ballot. Nevertheless, the presidential elections are seen as less important than general elections due to the limited area of the President’s constitutionally determined functions and responsibilities. The main attributions of the President include representative and … Continued
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Parliamentary election in Denmark, 1 November 2022
The context of the election At the 2019 election, Mette Frederiksen from the Social Democrats (Socialdemokratiet) acquired the keys to the Prime Minister’s Office with the support of the centre-left parties (Red-Green Alliance, Socialist People’s Party and Social Liberals). The minority, one-party government successfully (in an international perspective and according to the electorate) handled the … Continued
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Special analyses
Municipal elections in the Netherlands, 13 March 2022
On the 16th of March 2022 municipal elections were held in the Netherlands. A total of 333 out of 344 municipalities elected a new municipal council. Elections were not held in 11 municipalities because “reform” elections were, or will, be held. Every four years, in March on a Wednesday municipal elections are held in all … Continued
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Northern Ireland Assembly Election, 5 May 2022
The Northern Ireland Assembly The Northern Ireland Assembly is a legislature within the United Kingdom (UK) with power to make laws on a range of devolved matters. Since the signing of the Belfast/’Good Friday’ Agreement 1998 (GFA), the design of the political institutions in Northern Ireland requires that parties enter a power-sharing arrangement after elections. … Continued
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General elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2 October 2022
Introduction Bosnia and Herzegovina’s (BiH) elections are among the world’s most consistent. The ninth general election in Bosnia and Herzegovina since the end of the Bosnian War in 1995 was held on 2 October 2022. Under the intricate system of governance established by the Dayton Peace Agreement, elections were held for three levels of government. … Continued
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