ABSTRACT
European Parliament elections were justified by those encouraging their establishment as providing national electorates with a direct link to EU decision-making. However, most academic studies have seen them as very weak links, arguing that voters see them largely as less important national elections. This is signalled most obviously by relatively low turnout. It allows those who do exercise their franchise to use them to signal dissatisfaction with national governments, or to simply vote for a party they might like without concerning themselves with who might, or might not form a government. Typically, it is e expected that smaller parties will do much better and governments will suffer. The evidence is that these patterns have persisted since 1979, though not always to the same extent. Moreover, attitudes to the EU have become more important – although they have also gained salience in national elections.
