No participation without representation

How does the degree to which European citizens see themselves represented by political parties relate to their willingness to participate in an election? We argue that the closer citizens are to the parties running in an election in terms of the socio-economic left-right conflict and the European integration policy dimension, the more likely they participate in elections to the European Parliament. The analysis, which is based on the 2009 and 2014 European Election Studies datasets, indicates that the ideological left-right distance between citizens and parties mattered for participation in both EP elections under study. Moreover, the European integration dimension has become relevant for citizens’ turnout decision over the course of the European economic and sovereign debt crisis, but only in countries that are part of the Eurozone. These findings have implications for the nature of European elections and representative democracy on the European level, and indicate that missing policy responsiveness can lead to lower voter turnout.

欧洲公民认为自身被政党代表的程度，与其参与选举的意愿之间存在何种关联？本研究提出，若公民在社会经济左右翼冲突与欧洲一体化政策维度上，与参选政党的立场越趋近，则其参与欧洲议会（European Parliament，简称EP）选举的可能性越高。本分析基于2009年与2014年欧洲选举研究（European Election Studies）数据集展开，结果显示，公民与政党间的意识形态左右翼距离，对本次研究所覆盖的两届欧洲议会选举的选民参选行为均存在显著影响。此外，在欧洲经济与主权债务危机期间，欧洲一体化政策维度已成为公民投票决策的重要考量因素，但这一关联仅存在于欧元区（Eurozone）成员国中。上述研究结果对欧洲层面的欧洲选举与代议民主的本质具有重要启示意义，并表明政策回应性的缺失会导致选民投票率下降。