ABSTRACT
The 2014 European Parliament (EP) election in Spain took place in a context of deep
economic recession and distrust of political institutions. These conditions triggered an
unprecedented electoral response through which Podemos, a radical leftist party created
shortly before the election, obtained eight per cent of votes and gained electoral
momentum thereafter, seriously threatening the two-party-plus system. Using data from
a panel survey, our analyses reveal some unexpected findings. The intensity of protest
voting and the timing of the contest within the national electoral cycle have had a major
impact on national politics – with the possibility of eventually producing a party-system
change.
