Second-Order Arguments for Second-Order Elections? Measuring “Election Stakes” in a Multilevel Context: The Case of Norway

Abstract

Low turnout and the prevalence of national arena motivation in sub-and supranational elections are claimed to be due to voters perceiving that less is "at stake" in secondorder national elections. The article asks whether voters' differential assessments of election stakes when confronted with elections to different representative institutions are evidence of electoral sophistication. In the context of Norwegian elections to county and municipal councils, the standard approaches based on aggregate and survey data are juxtaposed with results from content analysis of local level politicians' argumentative behaviour, as they are exposed in readers' letters published in local newspapers. It is found that voters' differential assessment matches well with the message indirectly conveyed by campaigning politicians at the respective levels, suggesting that voters make adequate assessments of how much is at stake in elections to sub-national government. This substantiates the view that the second-order character is not inherent to all sub-national elections, but rather dependent on the overall institutional design of the specific multilevel system.

Blame and Punishment? The Electoral Politics of Extreme Austerity in Greece

“…In 2010, much of the campaigning was indeed directed at local issues (Gemenis, ). In some instances, however, voters may not automatically perceive regional and local elections as ‘second order’ (Ervik, ; Johns, ). This may be particularly true in the Greek case, since two weeks before Election Day, Papandreou announced that he would call a snap general election if voters were not expressing sufficient support for PASOK candidates.…”

“…In 2010, much of the campaigning was indeed directed at local issues (Gemenis, 2012). In some instances, however, voters may not automatically perceive regional and local elections as 'second order' (Ervik, 2012;Johns, 2011).This may be particularly true in the Greek case, since two weeks before Election Day, Papandreou announced that he would call a snap general election if voters were not expressing sufficient support for PASOK candidates. In presenting the regional vote as a referendum on the government's austerity programme, he clearly attempted to turn it into a contest of national importance, with potentially immediate effects on the future of the national government.…”

Linkage in Multi-level Party Organizations: The Role(s) of Norwegian Regional Party Branches

“…Its most important task-hospitals-was taken over by the state in 2002. The county council elections are clearly second-order elections-also compared to municipal council elections (Ervik, 2012).…”

Lokale verkiezingen: een lokaal of nationaal feest der democratie?

“…We zien dat bij de gemeenteraadsverkiezingen van 2014 met 54% aanzienlijk minder kiezers een stem uitbrachten dan bij de Tweede Kamerverkiezingen van 2012, waar de opkomst op 75% lag. Dit verschil in opkomst tussen deze twee typen verkiezingen is geen typisch Nederlands verschijnsel, maar zien we in veel westerse landen (Heath e.a., 1999;Ervik, 2012;Marien e.a., 2015). En 2014 is geen uitzonderlijk jaar, het opkomstpercentage bij de gemeenteraadsverkiezingen ligt sinds 1998 onder de 60%.…”