EPRC Seminar: No Elections for Big Parties - European Elections and National Party System Fragmentation

On Wednesday 28 January, Dr. Pedro Riera (School of Government and Public Policy) presented a paper, which he co-authored with Dr Elias Dinas (University of Oxford), on the impact of European Parliament elections on party fragmentation in national elections. Using an instrumental variables approach, the paper showed that voting patterns in EP elections spill over onto national elections, increasing the vote shares of small parties in the latter and that EP elections thus decrease the support to big parties at national level by inculcating voting habits.