European Parliament (EP) elections fall within the category of second-order elections: because these types of elections do not lead to the formation of government there is less at stake and, consequently, voters behave differently when casting ballot. However, since the behaviour of voters in...

Elections to the European Parliament (EP) are considered second-order national elections (SOE). The SOE model suggests that there is a qualitative difference between different types of elections depending on the perception of what is at stake. Compared to first order elections, in second order...