The strange case of European Parliament elections

European Parliament elections will be held across the Union on the first weekend of June. Traditionally, these elections are of little consequence and little importance. Yet with this year’s economic crisis setting a charged backdrop, the stakes are piled high. Parties currently in power are most vulnerable to a protest vote, with voters seeking to punish sitting governments for the crisis. Other factors may also raise the stakes for many parties, including parties who have recently experienced a loss in the ballot box and wish to turn things around and parties facing general, presidential or local contests within a year or so of theses elections, looking to get a head start in their campaigns.

So what are European Parliament elections really about? Are they about national or European politics? And how do you win them?

One way to look at European Parliament elections is as a test of power in national politics - the ultimate poll, if you will. These parties tend to run strictly Structural campaigns - calling on their core voters to turn out and vote for their party just in order to maintain/strengthen its standing in the national balance of power. Due to low turn out rates, small parties may use these elections to flex their muscles and bring about a disproportionately favorable result.

Other parties view the European Parliament elections as a referendum over the European Union and its future. These parties tend to run an Issue based campaign between the country’s pro and anti European forces. A classic approach to a campaign run in this mindset is telling the electorate why Europe is good/bad for them.

But at the end of the day, turn out rates across Europe are rock bottom, and are predicted to fall to single digits in some countries this time around. One of the reasons that these elections fail to capture the imagination of voters is because most parties relegate second-tier politicians to their European Parliament lists, and miss out on the opportunity to run a Personality-driven campaign.

I believe that the way to win European Parliament elections is by showing voters in a very tangible manner how voting for a specific candidate or party will make their lives better at home. A successful example of this could be seen in Romania’s 2007 European Parliament election. The National Liberal Party (PNL) ran under a slogan of “Promoting Romanian People, Products and Values in Europe”. This slogan spelled out to the voters why they should go out and vote; what the hell the guys elected were going to be doing in Brussels; and how they might personally benefit from voting for the PNL.

It is a rule of thumb that, in very broad terms, people vote for a better life. There is no doubt that the economic crisis will be front and center of the upcoming elections, with security, climate change and demographics trailing far behind. Parties who wish to break out of their structural base, or those who don’t have an inspirational candidate to run a Personality campaign must find a way to connect national politics with European level policy to get voters out of bed in June.

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