Európai parlamenti választások és választási rendszerek
European Parliamentary Elections and Election Systems

Summary/Abstract: The direct elections to the European Parliament are the most important means of the European citizens to connect with the European Union. The current study firstly examines the attempts to form the uniform European parliamentary electoral system and the final result of these attempts. The author states that the European parliamentary electoral systems of the member-states reflect the national electoral laws, and conflict of the efforts to shape the uniform electoral system and the different national electoral regulations is present from beginning to end in the European integration. The second part of the study summarizes country by country the main features of the European parliamentary electoral systems and the main differences between European and domestic electoral systems. The author briefly analyses the European parliamentary elections from the point of view of the campaigns, the nature of the party competition, the nomination procedure and candidates. Besides he reviews the political context, the turnout, the results of the elections, the proportionality of the results and the influence of the results on the stability, on the relations of the parties. He concludes that the so called „second-order election” theory is true and suggests that there is a gap between the increasing role of the European Parliament and the European elections which manifest the relation of the European citizens to the European issues. The low turnout, the more successfull performance of the small and new parties in the „euroelections”, the protest vote against governing parties – although it depends of the election’s timing – have emphasized the „second-order” character of the European elections. The European parliamentary elections are embedded in the domestic election cycle, the citizens’ participation and party preferences are determined by the point of views of the national, domestic politics. The „euroelections” rather may consider as a consultative referendum than the election of the representatives who are responsible for the European issues to his electors.

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