Lost Voters: Participation in EU elections and the case for compulsory voting

Some of the recently published by EPIN members: CEPS (Brussels): Lost Voters: Participation in EU elections and the case for compulsory voting  by Anthoula Malkopoulou.

Anthoula Malkopoulou is a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels. She would especially like to thank Mike Beke, Edmond Coughlan, Julia De Clerck-Sachsse, Michael Emerson, Elena Gnedina, Daniel Gros and Piotr Maciej Kaczynski for their useful comments and suggestions, which greatly helped her to improve this paper.

The malaise among Europe’s voting citizens with regard to the European Parliament elections casts a shadow over the EU’s commitment to political participation and democratic values. Not only do EU elections hold little political relevance next to national electoral cycles, but voters are also lost in the EU’s labyrinth of accountability. Yet, what appears as an insurmountable obstacle to the legitimacy of Europe’s decision-making mechanisms can be translated into an opportunity for voting system reforms. One way to address the problem of widespread abstention might be to legislate on the obligation to vote. This paper explores compulsory voting systems in a number of developed democracies worldwide and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of introducing such a measure in the EU.

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CEPS Policy Briefs present concise, policy-oriented analyses of topical issues in European affairs, with the aim of interjecting the views of CEPS’ researchers and associates into the policy-making process in a timely fashion. Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed are attributable only to the authors in a personal capacity and not to any institution with which they are associated.

EPIN Working Papers present analyses of key issues raised by the debate on the political integration of Europe. The European Policy Institutes Network (EPIN) is a network of think tanks and policy institutes based throughout Europe, which focuses on current EU political and policy debates (see back cover for more information). Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed are attributable only to the authors in a personal capacity and not to any institutions with which they are associated.