The aim of this paper is twofold. I examine whether fulfilment of party voters’ expectations about democracy is dependent on a) the policy congruence between parties and their voters and b) different styles of representation. Policy congruence is defined as proximity of parties and voters on the left right scale. Styles of representation are defined as proportion of trustees, partisans or delegates among party representatives. Using European Social Survey data, voters’ expectations about democracy are measured by questions about the importance of various factors for democracy (such as free and fair elections) and about the status of those same factors in their respective country. The distance between what is important for democracy and the status indicates how well voters’ expectations about democracy are fulfilled. Preliminary findings indicate that increasing proportions of partisans within parties foster the fulfilment of voters’ expectations about democracy while increasing proportions of trustees impede it.
