Suchergebnisse

The success of Eurosceptic parties had been predicted at the European elections of May 2014. The morning after the ballot battle made it all the headlines and since then the political cards in the European arena and a number of Member States are mixed thoroughly. But the last word on this electoral success has not yet been written, on the contrary. Many questions remain unanswered. Such as: Is the result an accident the track (for the traditional parties), or part of a more stable, long-term evolution? To what extent does Euroscepticism from country to country? And what is the effect of this victory to the position of eurosceptics in the European Parliament. Adapted from the source document.

Although the 2006 local elections can hardly be described as 'historical,' there is sufficient evidence to distinguish remarkable characteristics associated with this elections. For the first time in decades, turnout has been growing. This evolution can be explained by several factors. This article emphasizes besides the impact of changes in the electoral rules, transformations in demographic structure of the population & the stake of the elections the importance of the media campaign surrounding the elections. However, in spite of this (national) campaigns, there are more than enough indications that local politics keeps its local 'nature.' Secondly, the 2006 elections were the first ones organized after the transfer of the responsibility for municipality legislation from the federal state to the regions. This means that each region designed its own local government architecture & electoral rules. Yet, in practice, the consequences of this transformation seem to be very limited. Thirdly, & particular in the Flemish region, 'strong mayors' arose from the ballot stations (with the Antwerp mayor as the most spectacular case). The consequences of this trend will in the future be the issue of a new debate concerning the relations between council, board of alderman & mayor. Adapted from the source document.

In national elections the results tend to become more 'nationalized': a homogeneous party offer all over the territory, less variation in the results per constituency & more homogeneous electoral swings. This article investigates whether this nationalization can also be witnessed at local elections. It focuses on two indicators: the party offer & the voting behavior. The party offer is the presence of the national parties on the local ballot paper, while the voting behavior looks at patterns of homogeneity across the municipalities. The answer to the question of nationalization is mixed. The Flemish & Walloon local elections display the same long-term trend as the national elections, but they keep their own local character. The heterogeneity of the local party offer clearly demonstrates the local specificity of the local elections, & consequently the voting behavior also differs from the voting behavior at national elections. We also find that the local elections in Wallonia are less nationalized than in Flanders. Although the local character of the local elections remains important, the newer parties -- Ecolo & Groen! -- show until 2000 a clear trend towards nationalization. Especially the extreme right Vlaams Belang shows positive scores on all indicators of nationalization since its first local appearance in 1982. Tables, Figures. Adapted from the source document.

The Anti-Revolutionary People behind the Voters. Fact or fiction? The Electoral Support of the ARP around 1885 and in 1918The rallying cry 'The people behind the voters' symbolised the political discrimination against the anti-revolutionaries. The restricted franchise, based on tax assessments, was supposed to favour the liberals. It is, however, doubtful whether this rallying cry represented any real form of discrimination or whether it should be regarded instead as part of the self-image of the antirevolutionaries. This is hard to determine. The number of seats gained during elections is not a very good benchmark because the absolute majority run-off system (constituency voting system with a second ballot) forced political parties to look for electoral cooperation. The size of the electoral support, on the other hand, can be estimated, when the election results of several carefully selected constituencies from the 1880s are compared with the election results of 1918. At this point, the votes were being cast under the regime of proportional representation and universal male suffrage. The anti-revolutionary electoral gains in 1918 turned out to be so small, that the rallying cry 'The people behind the voters' must be regarded as being out of touch with reality. Already, under the very restricted suffrage of the 1880s, the anti-revolutionaries had almost reached the peak of their electoral support.

The 1974 parliamentary elections have directed attention upon, & seriously challenged, the problem of political apathy & poor representation of women in the Belgian parliament. Two different strategies were used: (1) the creation of a separate, exclusive feminist party, & (2) the listing of F candidates on the more conventional ballots. The effects of both strategies were quite remarkable: while the feminist party was unable to make a breakthrough & have any of its members elected, the other strategy had a strong effect on the number of F candidates, of elected women (+100%), compared to previous elections. The exact relationship between the women's campaign & its electoral effect can not easily be determined because of the complexity of the factors involved. The propaganda was an attempt to change the traditional image of women & to increase the political participation & emancipation of women via parliamentary elections. A breakdown of all women-related propaganda, by party & by theme, is given. Four themes are distinguished: (A) traditional (16%), (B) neutral (23%), (C) emancipatory (52%), & (D) manipulative (9%). The 1977 results hardly meet the optimistic prospects of 1974: (a) the feminist party did not survive a second participation, & (b) permanent action as well as political sensibilization is needed to support the F candidates of the traditional parties. As far as vote gathering is concerned, the strategy of a separate party is less effective than that of having F candidates on the traditional lists. 6 Tables. Modified HA.