Assuming that the electoral success of niche parties in EP elections is largely due to the vote switching in EP elections, this study seeks to explore the motivations leading mainstream party supporters to switch to niche parties in EP elections (niche switching voters). From the results of analyses, some important findings could be drawn. First, for niche switching voters, the ‘protest voting’ motivation is very important motive. In particular, they are strongly driven by their profound distrust in mainstream politics in switching to niche parties. Second, unlike the existing literature, European considerations matter in their voting behavior. Third, vote choice based on the niche issues also has important effect on their voting behavior. This demonstrates clearly that, niche switching voters are different from other switching voters.
AbediA (2004) Anti-Political Establishment Parties: A Comparative Analysis, New York: Routledge.
2.
AdamsJClarkMEzrowL (2006) Are niche parties fundamentally different from mainstream parties? The causes and the electoral consequences of Western European parties’ policy shifts, 1976–1998. American Journal of Political Science50(3): 513–529.
3.
BakkeESitterN (2005) Patterns of stability: Party competition and strategy in Central Europe since 1989. Party Politics11(2): 243–263.
4.
BombergE (1998) Green Parties and Politics in the European Union, London: Routledge.
5.
BoyDChicheJ (2009) Une vague verte?Revue internationale de politque comparée16(4): 623–635.
6.
CarrubaCTimponeRJ (2005) Explaining vote switching across first- and second-order elections: Evidence from Europe. Comparative Political Studies38(3): 260–281.
7.
ClarkNRohrschneiderR (2009) Second-order elections versus first-order thinking: How voters perceive the representation process in a multi-layered system of governance. Journal of European Integration31(5): 645–664.
8.
CurticeJ (1989) The 1989 European election: Protest or green tide?Electoral Studies8(3): 217–230.
9.
De VriesCEHoboltSB (2012) When dimensions collide: The electoral success of issue entrepreneurs. European Union Politics13(2): 246–268.
10.
EES (2009) European Parliament Election Study 2009, Voter Study, Advance release, 7/4/2010. Available at: www.piredeu.eu (accessed 20 March 2013).
11.
FerraraFWeishauptJT (2004) Get your act together: Party performance in European Parliament elections. European Union Politics5(3): 283–306.
12.
FranklinMNRüdigW (1992) The Green voter in the 1989 European election. Environmental Politics1(4): 129–159.
13.
HimmelweitHTBiberianMJStockdaleJ (1978) Memory for past vote: Implications of a study of bias in recall. British Journal of Political Science8(3): 365–375.
14.
HixSMarshM (2007) Punishment or protest? Understanding European Parliament elections. The Journal of Politics69(2): 495–510.
15.
HoboltSBSpoonJ-J (2012) Motivating the European voter: Parties, issues and campaigns in European Parliament elections. European Journal of Political Research51(6): 701–727.
16.
HoboltSBSpoonJ-JTilleyJ (2009) A vote against Europe? Explaining defection at the 1999 and 2004 European Parliament elections. British Journal of Political Science39(1): 93–115.
17.
HoogheLMarksGWilsonCJ (2002) Does left/right structure party positions on European integration?Comparative Political Studies35(8): 965–989.
18.
IgnaziP (1997) New challenges: Postmaterialism and the extreme right. In: RhodesMHeywoodPWrightV (eds) Developments in West European Politics, London: Macmillan.
19.
InglehartR (1997) Modernization and Postmodernization: Cultural, Economic, and Political Change in 43 Societies, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
20.
JensenCBSpoonJ-J (2010) Thinking locally, acting supranationally: Niche party behaviour in the European Parliament. European Journal of Political Research49(2): 174–201.
21.
KitscheltH (1999) Post-communist Party Systems: Competition, Representation, and Inter-party Cooperation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
22.
KriesiHGrandeELachatR (2006) Globalization and the transformation of the national political space: Six European countries compared. European Journal of Political Research45(6): 921–956.
23.
LodgeJ (1994) Transparency and democratic legitimacy. Journal of Common Market Studies32(3): 343–368.
24.
LynchPWhitakerRLoomesG (2012) The UK Independence Party: Understanding a niche party’s strategy, candidates and supporters. Parliamentary Affairs65(4): 733–757.
25.
MackieT (1995) Parties and elections. In: HaywardJPageEC (eds) Governing the New Europe, Cambridge: Polity Press.
26.
MagnetteP (2001) Appointing and censuring the European Commission: The adaptation of parliamentary institutions to the Community context. European Law Journal7(3): 292–310.
27.
MairP (1998) What is different about post-communist party systems? In: MairP (ed.) Party System Change, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 175–199.
28.
MajoneG (1998) Europe’s ‘democratic deficit’: The question of standards. European Law Journal44(1): 5–28.
29.
MajoneG (2000) The credibility crisis of community regulation. Journal of Common Market Studies38(2): 273–302.
30.
MarshM (1998) Testing the second-order election model after four European elections. British Journal of Political Science28(4): 591–607.
31.
MeguidBM (2005) Competing between unequals: The role of mainstream party strategy in niche party success. American Political Science Review99(3): 347–359.
32.
MeguidBM (2008) Party Competition Between Unequals: Strategies and Electoral Fortunes in Western Europe, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
33.
MeyerTMMillerB (2015) The niche party concept and its measurement. Party Politics21(2): 259–271.
34.
MinkenbergMPerrineauP (2005) The radical right in the European elections 2004. International Political Science Review28(1): 29–55.
35.
MoravscikA (1998) Centralization or Fragmentation? Europe Facing the Challenges of Deepening, Diversity, and Democracy, New York: Council on Foreign Relations Press.
36.
NorrisPReifK (1997) Second-order elections. European Journal of Political Research31(1): 109–124.
37.
PoguntkeT (1996) Anti-party sentiment-Conceptual thoughts and empirical evidence: Explorations into a minefield. European Journal of Political Research29(3): 319–344.
38.
RaunioT (1999) Always one step behind? National legislatures and the European Union. Government and Opposition34(2): 180–202.
39.
ReifK (1984) National election cycles and European elections, 1979 and 1984. Electoral Studies3(3): 244–255.
40.
ReifKSchmittH (1980) Nine second-order national elections: A conceptual framework for the analysis of European election results. European Journal of Political Research8(1): 3–44.
41.
RüdigWFranklinMNBennieLG (1996) Up and down with the Greens. Ecology and party politics in Britain, 1989–1992. Electoral Studies15(1): 1–20.
42.
SchmittH (2005) The European Parliament elections of June 2004: Still second-order?West European Politics28(3): 650–679.
43.
SchmittHMannheimerR (1991) About voting and non-voting in the European elections in June 1989. European Journal of Political Research19(1): 31–54.
44.
Schmitt H, Sanz A and Braun D (2008) The micro-foundations of second-order election theory: Theoretical reconstructions and empirical tests based upon the European Election Study 2004. In: The Citizen Politics Workshop, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK, 9–11 December 2008.
45.
SiedentopL (2001) Democracy in Europe, London: Allen Lane.
46.
TaggartP (1996) The New Populism and the New Politics, New York: St. Martin’s Press.
47.
Van AelstPLefevereJ (2012) Has Europe got anything to do with the European elections? A study on split-ticket voting in the Belgian regional and European elections of 2009. European Union Politics13(3): 3–25.
48.
Van der BrugWVan SpanjeJ (2009) Immigration, Europe and the ‘new’ cultural dimension. European Journal of Political Research48(2): 309–334.
49.
Van der EijkCFranklinMN (1996) Choosing Europe?: The European Electorate and National Politics in the Face of Union, Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.
50.
Van der EijkCFranklinMNMarshM (1996) What voters teach us about Europe-wide elections: What Europe-wide elections teach us about voters. Electoral Studies15(2): 149–166.
51.
WagnerM (2012) Defining and measuring niche parties. Party Politics18(6): 845–864.
52.
WeberT (2007) Campaign effects and second-order cycles: A top-down approach to European Parliament elections. European Union Politics8(4): 509–536.
53.
WeberT (2009) When the cat is away the mice will play: Why elections to the European Parliament are about Europe after all. Politique Européenne28(2): 53–71.
54.
WeilerJHHHalternURMayerFC (1995) European democracy and its critique. West European Politics18(3): 4–39.
55.
WeirBT (1975) The distortion of voter recall. American Journal of Political Science19(1): 53–62.
56.
WilliamsS (1991) Sovereignty and accountability. In: KeohaneROHoffmannS (eds) The New European Community, Boulder, CO: Westview.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
