The 2020 Parliamentary Elections in Slovakia Steadily Turbulent Change of Direction

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 221-234
Author(s):  
Vlastimil Havlík ◽  
Miroslav Nemčok ◽  
Peter Spáč ◽  
Jozef Zagrapan

In recent years Slovakia witnessed a dynamic development with crucial consequences for its domestic politics. Vast civic mobilization, the emergence of new parties and decline of a long-term hegemon – all these features culminated in the 2020 general election. We first introduce the results and discuss them from a longitudinal perspective of Slovak politics. Most importantly, despite a considerably large portion of correctly casted ballots for parties which failed to pass the institutional thresholds, the outcomes do not suggest that the representativity or proportionality of the Slovak political system is about to suffer. Second, we focus on the rise and ideological appeals of populist political parties. Although similar in many ways, we show important differences in their ideological platforms.

1989 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 237-254
Author(s):  
Erik Buyst ◽  
Luc Lauwers ◽  
Patrick Uvtterhoeven

This paper deals with the distribution of power among Belgian political parties during the interwar period. In the 1930s Belgium, like most European countries, was confronted with the electoral success of extreme right- and left-wing parties that wanted to change the existing political system into an authoritarian one. Usually, historians draw attention to the rapidly growing share of seats in Parliament held by extreme parties as a sign of their increasing influence on Belgian politics. Among game theorists, however, it is widely accepted that the proportion of seats is a poor proxy for power relations (Schotter, 1979). It is indeed possible that a political party acquiring a higher proportion of seats in Parliament loses its capacity to influence the outcome of a vote, and vice versa.


Author(s):  
Taras Kozak

On the base of literary sources, the gist of political influence in geographical realities was specified. The role of electoral support as the basis for impact was examined. A considerable importance of political parties’ impact on the territorial-political structure of the society, its unity and stability were outlined. Spatial conformity with a law of people’s behaviour in connection with the election to the legislative body of state power of Ukraine was explored. The results of the emergency parliamentary election to Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine 2014 in the context of the geographical impact of political parties of Ukraine were analysed. The peculiarities of voters division for parties among rural and urban population were elucidated. Positive and negative tendencies of election campaign were found out. The recommendations for harmonisation of party and political system were suggested. Key words: election, influence, electoral support, constituency, party-political system, political party.


Author(s):  
Sebastián Royo

After over two decades of prolonged economic growth, Spain suffered its worst economic crisis in decades between 2008 and 2014. The political, social, and economic consequences of this crisis were very severe: unemployment increased sharply reaching over 27 per cent; inequalities deepened; and the two-party political system was transformed by the emergence of new parties. The implementation of structural reforms, which intensified as a result of the European Union financial sector bailout of 2012, led to economic recovery. As a result, credit was restored, strong economic growth resumed, and the political system did not implode. Yet, persistently high unemployment (particularly as regards youth and long-term) as well as inequality (and to a certain extent poverty) still persist a decade after the crisis. This chapter looks at the genesis of the crisis and examines the responses to the crisis, as well as its economic, social, and political consequences.


Daedalus ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 142 (2) ◽  
pp. 84-94
Author(s):  
Mickey Edwards

Even if most of us can agree on a definition of the “common good” (not a simple matter), there are substantial barriers to establishing public policies in accord with that agreement. The “democratic” element in our political system – the right of voters to choose the men and women who will create our laws – depends on the views of those voters being given considerable weight in determining eventual policy outcomes. Unfortunately, we have developed a political system – both in our elections and in the governing process – that gives disproportionate influence to relatively small numbers of voters (who are also the most partisan) and allows political parties through their closed procedures to limit the choices available to general election voters. Coupled with legislative rules that allow partisans to determine the makeup of legislative committees, the resulting process leaves the common good, however defined, a secondary consideration at best.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayub Muksin

<p>The Republic of Indonesia since 1945 when it proclaimed its independent from the Dutch colonialism adopted democracy as political system. In its political development, democracy in Indonesia had many names or label. From 1945 until 1959, the Republic of Indonesia adopted and implemented which   is commonly known as Liberal Democracy. During the period of 1945 – 1959, the government of Indonesia held  successfully general election with 39 political parties as well as mass organization and group of constituens which all together 100 participants in the general election. From 1959 until 1966, democracy which was took on called Guided Democracy.During this period there was no general election eventhough some political parties were permitted to exist by the current rezime . The rezime was of the opinion that the Indonesian people was not ready yet for carrying out generah election. After aborted Communist coup d’etat at 30 September 1965, new government arised, and they called their government as New Order or Orba in Bahasa Indonesia. The new order remained to adopt democracy in political system which was labelled as Democracy Pancasila, referred to the nation and state philosophy. The new order government organized six  times general election which was held in 1971 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992 and 1997. In general election 1973 there was  10 political parties and 1 mass organization called Golkar, formed by government as main political power of Orba. Since 1977 the election participants were only two parties, the United Party for Development (PPP), the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and Golkar. Then Golkar developed as hegemonic party, ardent and strong supporter to the Orba government, and always winning  in every general election. When Reformation Era came in 1998, the reformation government named its democracy as Demokrasi Reformasi, and as of 1998 until now, had successfully organized 4(four) times general elections with its participants fluctuated.  In 1999’s general election the participants was 48 political parties, 2004’ election was 24 parties, 2009’ s election was 38 parties, 2014’ general election was 12 parties. For 2019’ s general election, 16 parties was declared by the General Election Commission  or KPU as participants nationally.</p><p>From theoretical perspectives on democracy, whatever labelled or named, democracy implemented  in Indonesia  formally as DEMOCRACY.</p><p>Key words : Democracy. Political Parties, General Election.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-32
Author(s):  
O. G. Karpovich ◽  
O. I. Shakirov

The development of Russian-Georgian relations is determined by both long-term factors and situational circumstances. The former include disagreements between the two countries over security in Transcaucasia: the status of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and the attitude toward NATO activity in the region. Another persistent factor concerns the debate over interaction with Russia in Georgia’s domestic politics. These factors limit the possibilities for expanding bilateral ties. Situational constraints include such phenomena as the COVID-19 pandemic or the domestic political crisis in Georgia after the 2020 parliamentary elections. Taken together, the longterm and situational factors set the general tone for bilateral relations, which are characterized by predictability and low dynamics. Despite the existing limitations, Russian-Georgian cooperation holds promise in areas of trade and societal contacts.


Author(s):  
Vitalij Semenko

The article deals with peculiarities of the regular elections in the Republic of Austria to the European Parliament in 2014, as well as the main reasons for the success of nationalists, left-wing parties, eurosceptics, populists, far-right political parties, even though the pro-European forces have retained their majority. The main results of the parliamentary elections, the conclusions of eminent political scientists, experts who researched election to the European Parliament are in details analyzed. Also, the main objectives and tasks of the party and election programs of political parties in Austria are in details characterized, which are represented in the European Parliament, this important supranational body of the European Union. Specific features of obtaining by Austria of 18 seats on the 8th next elections to the European Parliament are revealed, which took place on May 25, 2014. Keywords: Political party, euroscepticism, elections, populism, political system


2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-211
Author(s):  
Suzanne S. Schüttemeyer ◽  
Anastasia Pyschny

The political parties represented in the Bundestag have about 300 .000 active members, from whom all elected officials, from local councils to the European Parliament, are recruited . Due to the ongoing membership decline in parties the pool of eligible candidates is also reduced . In spite of this worrying development and the outstanding importance of the parties’ recruitment function for the stability and functioning of the political system, for the last five decades the candidate selection processes for the German Bundestag have neither been analyzed extensively nor systematically . Hence, the Institute of Parliamentary Research (IParl) addressed this research gap and studied the candidate selection before the German parliamentary elections of 2017 by asking who selects whom in which way and for what reasons in the constituency or for the party lists as candidate for the German Bundestag . The results underline the worrying situation: Not only the personal but also the participatory basis of democracy has been shrinking over time . Although the parties hold membership conventions more often, in 15 years the participation of the electorate from CDU, CSU and SPD declined by 46 percent . Thus, inclusive participation offers are not a universal remedy . Rather, the parties have to make sure that such offers are really used comprehensively .


Significance A fifth by-election will also be held to replace another Labor member who resigned earlier for family reasons. The by-elections will test the country's main political parties -- the Liberals (who govern in coalition with the Nationals) and opposition Labor -- ahead of next year’s general election. The elections and the Court ruling that caused them will also reignite the long-term debate over citizenship and eligibility for office. Impacts The government could lose its majority, but seat gains in June would provide a pre-2019 boost. Calls for a constitutional referendum to solve the citizenship and elections question may grow, but referenda seldom pass. Political parties will face greater pressure to ensure their candidates’ eligibility for office.


2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-144
Author(s):  
Ryszard Żelichowski

The mass influx of immigrants to Europe in 2015 shook the foundations of the political system of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The concept of populism dominated the political discourse related to various concepts of how to solve this problem. After the death of Pim Fortuyn and Theo van Gogh, two politicians using harsh anti-immigrant rhetoric and murdered by Islamic fanatics, a new generation of right-wing populist activists appeared on the political scene of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Two of them, Geert Wilders and Thierry Baudet, run their own political parties and are increasingly successful. The Freedom Party of Geert Wilders became the second strongest party in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Forum for Democracy party founded by Thierry Baudet won two seats in the Second Chamber of Parliament in the 2017 election.The author of this article focuses on both these politicians and their party programmes. He argues that the culmination of populism in Europe, which fell between the peak of the 2015 migration crisis and the 2017 parliamentary elections, has changed the attitude of leading politicians to this concept. Populism has been ‘permanently’ appearing in salons. The thesis of ‘good’ populism, proclaimed by Prime Minister Mark Rutte, indicates its inclusion in the arsenal of political means also used by liberals to defend a democratic order.


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