ABSTRACT
Across many countries a central element of political competition is arising from the multilevel dynamics of electoral politics. The evolution of this sub-field of electoral research has been especially relevant in electoral studies of federal states. Indeed, the roots of a systematic study of the interdependence of political behavior in different types of elections were first proposed in the literature on US mid-term election results. The application of the aggregate hypotheses of the second-order national elections (SOE) model is more questionable in the case of some municipal and local elections. Local politics often have their own dynamics. he local political arena, the candidates and their personality and local policy orientations are among the factors that could contribute toward a departure from the second-order voting mechanism. The direct election of the members of the European Parliament, from 1979 on, was expected to increase citizens' awareness of European Union (EU) institutions and strengthen EU democracy as perceived by its citizens.
