Elections in Europe: 2023
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, Jean Cotte, Adrian Fraus, Charlotte Kleine, Mattéo Lanoë, Sofia Marini, Johanna Schleyer
Elections in the European Union
Presidential election in the Czech Republic, 13-14 January 2023
Introduction The 2023 Czech presidential election occurred at a time of political tension and societal fatigue caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine. From a domestic political perspective, the election, which took place approximately one and a half years after the narrow defeat of populist forces in the 2021 parliamentary vote, was … Continued
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Regional elections in Lower Austria, 29 January 2023
The history of a provincial election Lower Austria is not the most well-known part of Austria, but its largest Bundesland by area and its second most populous after the capital of Vienna. With the proclamation of the First Republic in 1918, Lower Austria became a federated entity within a greatly reduced Austrian state struggling with … Continued
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Presidential election in Cyprus, 5 and 12 February 2023
On 5 and 12 February 2023, Cypriot voters went to the polls to elect the eighth president in the history of the Republic of Cyprus. The Constitution of the Republic provides for a clear separation of powers. The executive power is exercised by the president, who appoints the cabinet and is not accountable to parliament. … Continued
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Regional election in Berlin, 12 February 2023
Introduction On November 16th 2022, the Berlin State Constitutional Court (BCC) ruled that the results of both the state and local elections in Germany’s capital of Berlin, that took place on the 26th of September 2021 together with the federal election, were invalid and had to be repeated within 90 days. Thus 88 days after … Continued
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Regional election in Latium, 12-13 February 2023
Context of the vote, election campaign On the eve of the 2022 Italian general election, the regional president of Latium (Lazio), Nicola Zingaretti, had been in office for two consecutive five-year terms since the resignation of Renata Polverini in 2012 following a series of scandals. From 2019 to 2021, the prominent centre-left leader had additionally … Continued
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Regional election in Lombardy, 12-13 February 2023
Political context, candidates and electoral system The Lombardy regional elections took place on 12th and 13th February 2023, at the end of the term of office of the President (head of the executive body) and the Council (legislative body) elected in March 2018, and just over four months before the Italian general elections in September … Continued
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Regional election in Carinthia, 5 March 2023
Background and context With 563,176 inhabitants (2021 microcensus), the southernmost federal state of Carinthia is one of Austria’s the less populous states, with fewer people living only in Salzburg, which is close behind, and in the small states of Vorarlberg and Burgenland (Statistik Austria, 2023). In 2022, Carinthia had the second-highest unemployment rate after the … Continued
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Parliamentary election in Estonia, 5 March 2023
Held in the context of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, the 2023 general election in Estonia saw a landslide victory of the liberal, centre-right Reform Party led by incumbent Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. Turnout, at 63.53%, was almost the same as in the previous general election held in March 2019. Six parties gained representation … Continued
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Provincial and Senate elections in the Netherlands
Introduction The 2023 Dutch provincial elections, which indirectly elected the Senate a few months later, saw a major change in the political landscape when a party with only one seat in the lower house suddently became the biggest party in the upper house. A small agrarian populist party, the Farmer-Citizen-Movement (BoerBurgerBeweging, BBB) was catapulted to … Continued
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Parliamentary election in Bulgaria, 2 April 2023
Introduction The political situation in the 48th National Assembly, after the October 2022 elections, repeated the previous parliamentary fragmentation, combined with a high level of political hostility and widespread expectation of new snap elections. Thus, after three unsuccessful attempts by the parties and coalitions represented in parliament to form a government, President Rumen Radev announced … Continued
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Parliamentary election in Finland, 2 April 2023
The parliamentary elections that took place in Finland on 2 April, 2023 were in many respects unusual. Putin’s war in Ukraine has had a dramatic impact on Finnish security policy, with Finland seeking NATO membership by mid-May 2022 and joining the defence alliance two days after the election on 4 April. NATO membership was accepted almost unanimously … Continued
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Regional election in Friuli Venezia Giulia, 2-3 April 2023
Introduction In 2023, elections were held in 5 Italian regions (3 with ordinary statute and 2 with special statute): Lazio and Lombardy (12 and 13 February), Friuli-Venezia Giulia (2 and 3 April), Molise (25 and 26 June), and Trentino-Alto Adige (22 October). Unlike in other European countries, in Italy there is no single election day … Continued
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Regional election in Salzburg, 23 April 2023
Introduction The third victory in a row for the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), the 2023 Salzburg State Parliament election did not bring a new leading party to the region. It did, however, give the ÖVP a new coalition partner in the form of the right-wing populist Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), and led to a … Continued
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Regional election in Bremen, 12 May 2023
The Bremen city state election as a special case among German state elections As the only two-city state among the German Länder, the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen occupies an intermediate position between territorial and city states. The Bremen regional election is held separately in the two municipalities of Bremen and Bremerhaven, with the nomination … Continued
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Regional election in the Principality of Asturias, 28 May 2023
Introduction The elections of May 28, 2023 showed a territorial power shift for Spanish parties. If in 2019, the Spanish map had been dyed red, in 2023 it turned blue (Rama and Santana, 2019). In the 14 autonomous regions that held elections on 28M, the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE, S&D) retains three of the … Continued
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Regional elections in the Balearic Islands, 28 May 2023
Introduction On the 28th of May of 2023, the eleventh regional elections since the return of democracy took place in the Balearic Islands. After eight years of center-left government, the Popular Party (PP, EPP) became the most voted party in the region and managed to form a right-wing minority cabinet with the support of the … Continued
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Regional election in Cantabria, 28 May 2023
On May 28, municipal and regional elections were held in Spain. Among the 12 Autonomous Communities that were to renew their Parliament was Cantabria. Since the approval of its Statute of Autonomy in 1981, the northern community has developed its own political and party system, including the existence of a regionalist party, the PRC, which … Continued
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Regional election in Castilla-La Mancha, 28 May 2023
Introduction The elections to the Cortes, the regional parliament of Castilla-La Mancha, were held on May 28, 2023, with the governing centre-left Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) managing to maintain, by the narrowest of margins (17 out of 33 seats), the absolute majority it enjoyed since 2019. Two right-wing parties, the moderate Popular Party (PP) … Continued
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Regional election in Extremadura, 28 May 2023
Introduction On Sunday, May 28, 2023, the citizens of Extremadura went to the polls to elect the 65 members of the regional Assembly. As every four years, the regional election was held simultaneously with the election of the representatives of the 388 municipalities of the region and with other regional elections in all other Autonomous … Continued
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Regional election in Madrid, 28 May 2023
The Autonomous Community of Madrid, a uniprovincial region and the main economic, cultural and political center of Spain, held elections to renew its regional parliament on May 28, 2023. With the Popular Party (PP) winning an absolute majority of both votes and seats, the election’s outcome was clear. Twelve other Spanish regions also elected their … Continued
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Regional election in Murcia, 28 May 2023
On May 28th, regional elections were held in twelve of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain. In addition, on that day the members of all city councils across the country (more than eight thousand) were elected, including the forty-five councils of Murcia. The context Murcia’s 10th Legislature, which ended last May, was in a convulsive … Continued
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Regional election in the Valencian Community, 28 May 2023
Twelve of Spain’s seventeen autonomous communities held regional elections on Sunday, May 28, 2023. On that same day, municipal elections took place throughout the country. In this paper, we analyze the results of the election to the Cortes of the Valencian Community (the Valencian Parliament) and the formation of the government of the 9th autonomous … Continued
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Parliamentary elections in Greece, May-June 2023
Introduction In 2023 Greece had two legislative elections in close succession, on 21 May and 25 June. The May 21 elections were the first (and only) to be held according to the electoral law modified back in 2016 by the SYRIZA-ANEL coalition government, replacing the previous bonus system with a purely proportional one. Unless changes … Continued
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Parliamentary election in Spain, 23 July 2023
Introduction On May 29, 2023, the President of the Spanish Government and leader of the PSOE, Pedro Sánchez, announced by surprise the call for general elections (Congress of Deputies and Senate) for July 23 of that same year, six months earlier than anticipated. Sánchez’s strategic shift in announcing this advance was in response to the … Continued
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Regional election in Madeira, 24 September 2023
Introduction This electoral report focuses on the latest regional elections held in Madeira on 24 September. Eleven parties and two pre-electoral coalitions — Somos Madeira and the CDU — competed for seats in the regional parliament. There were high expectations around this competition, related, among others, with the electoral performance of the incumbent parties in … Continued
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Parliamentary election in Slovakia, 30 September 2023
The 2023 Slovak parliamentary election took place on September 30, 2023. It was an early election (the next regular election date was scheduled for February/March 2024) and the ninth election since Slovakia´s independence on January 1, 1993. Turnout was 68.5 per cent, slightly higher than in the previous election in 2020 (65.8%). Twenty-five political entities … Continued
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Regional and local elections in Greece, 8 October 2023
The context The Greek regional and municipal elections were held over two rounds on 8th and 15th October 2023. Regional and municipal elections for a fixed five-year term were held simultaneously in 13 regions and 332 municipalities. The 2023 elections were held under different rules than the previous election in 2019. In 2019 the electoral … Continued
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Regional election in Bavaria, 8 October 2023
A new Landtag was elected in the Free State of Bavaria on 8 October 2023. CSU leader and Minister President Markus Söder and his deputy and Minister of the Economy Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters), who have led a “black-orange” coalition since 2018, also stood for election as the leading candidates of their respective parties in … Continued
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Regional election in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, 22 October 2023
The region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located in Northeast Italy on the border with Austria, is divided into the two Autonomous Provinces of Trento and Bolzano. Both provinces elect their provincial parliaments on the same day. Together, the two provincial parliaments form the regional council, the region‘s legislative body. This is a clear indication of the … Continued
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Parliamentary election in the Netherlands, 22 November 2023
In the Dutch Parliamentary election, citizens vote to fill the 150 seats of the Tweede Kamer, the Dutch lower and only directly elected parliamentary chamber at the national level, which is at the core of legislative decision-making in the Dutch parliamentary system. To elect these seats, The Netherlands uses an extremely proportional electoral system with … Continued
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Elections in the European Union's neighborhood
Parliamentary election in Andorra, 2 April 2023
Andorra is a landlocked micro-state (81,588 inhabitants in 2022 and 468 km2) located in the heart of the Pyrenees between France and Spain. Andorra is a unique case in Europe, especially in view of its medieval political heritage (Medir, Vilanova & Pano 2022). Contemporary Andorra is an independent and sovereign state and a member state … Continued
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Presidential and parliamentary election in Türkiye, May 2023
On May 14, 2023, elections were held in Turkey to elect both the Grand National Assembly (Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi, TBMM) and the President of the Republic of Türkiye. As no candidate had won a majority in the first round of the presidential election, a second round was held on May 28. The incumbent president, … Continued
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Presidential and parliamentary elections in Montenegro, March-June 2023
Introduction Montenegro’s postsocialist period has been characterized by high active voter participation ever since the introduction of multiparty elections in 1990, boasting an average turnout of well over 70%. During this period, the country was governed by the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), a direct successor of the League of Communists of Montenegro. The DPS … Continued
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Election to the Swiss National Council, 22 October 2023
Context In Switzerland, elections to the National Council, the parliament’s lower house, customarily take place on the penultimate Sunday in October, on the same day as the first round of elections to the upper house, the Council of States. Switzerland has a balanced bicameral system in which both houses of parliament, the National Council and … Continued
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Elections in the EU's 15 largest cities (M15)
Municipal election in Sofia, 29 October 2023
The local elections in the Municipality of Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital, took place on October 29, 2023, with the second round for the election of the municipality and district mayors being held on November 5, 2023. In the first round, the members of the municipal council and some district mayors were elected. The second round featured … Continued
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Short analyses
Parliamentary election in Monaco, 5 February 2023
Around 7,500 Monegasque citizens were called to the polls on February 5, 2023 to renew the 24 seats of the National Council. Under the 1962 constitution, the Principality’s Council of Government is appointed by the Prince, and is not accountable to Parliament. The Minister of State, head of government, is appointed by the Prince after … Continued
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Regional election in Aragon, 28 May 2023
On May 28, 2023, an election was held to elect the 67 members of the Aragonese regional legislature, the Cortes of Aragon. PSOE’s (S&D) Javier Lambán, president of the region since 2015 with the support of Podemos (GUE-NGL) and regionalist parties, was in trouble from mid-term onwards, with polls showing the PP (EPP) in … Continued
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Élection régionale aux Canaries, 28 mai 2023
Le 28 mai 2023 se tenaient les élections renouvelant les 70 députés du Parlement autonome des Îles Canaries. La politique canarienne est caractérisée par la forte présence de partis régionalistes. La coalition du gouvernement de gauche sortant n’était possible que grâce au soutien de deux de ces partis, et d’autres formations régionales jouent également un … Continued
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Local elections in Ceuta and Melilla
On May 28, 2023, elections were held to elect the 25 members of the parliament of the autonomous city of Ceuta. The Spanish enclave on the northern coast of Morocco is a stronghold of the PP (EPP; 34.4%, +3.3 pp), which is particularly active on migration issues. Vox (CRE; 20.6%, -1.7 pp), is also particularly … Continued
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Regional election in La Rioja, 28 May 2023
On May 28, 2023, elections were held to elect the 33 members of La Rioja’s regional parliament. In 2019, a coalition comprising the PSOE (S&D; 31.9%, -6.8 pp; 12 seats, -2) and a joint Podemos-Izquierda Unida list (GUE/NGL; 5.1%, -1.5 pp; 2 seats, =) had managed to build a historical left-wing majority after 24 years … Continued
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Regional election in Navarra, 28 May 2023
On May 28, 2023, elections were held to renew the 50 seats in the regional parliament of the Chartered Community of Navarre. In 2019, the center-left coalition led by the PSOE (S&D) had won the presidency of the region, forming a minority cabinet. The PSOE’s victory came at the end of a parliamentary term dominated … Continued
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Regional election in Molise, 25-26 June 2023
The Regional Council of Molise, Italy’s second least populous and smallest region, was renewed on June 25 and 26, 2023. Two coalitions were vying for the presidency of the region: the center-right coalition led by Francesco Roberti (FI, EPP) and the center-left coalition, including the Five-Star Movement (M5S, NI), headed by Roberto Gravina (M5S). Roberti, … Continued
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Parliamentary election in Luxembourg, 8 October 2023
On 8 October 2023, Luxembourgish voters were called to the polls to elect the country’s unicameral parliament, the Chamber of Deputies. The Christian Social People’s Party (CSV, EPP), Luxembourg’s traditional center-right party, came out on top with 29.2% of the vote (+0.9 pp), up 0.9 percentage points. The CSV has been the main party in … Continued
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Regional election in Åland, 15 October 2023
Context The Parliament of the Åland Islands, a territory with a population of 30,000 inhabitants, of whom 90% are Swedish speakers, was created in 1922 with the recognition of Åland’s autonomy status within the new Finnish state. The Finnish Civil War (January-May 1918), which saw the Finnish Communists fight the Finnish Whites, was marked by … Continued
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