Party politics in CEE is generally considered characterized by instability, fragmentation and volatility. However, are these phenomena affecting all in the same way and, in particular, how does these impact on centre-left parties? We search for empirical evidence of specific features of the centre-left in CEE opposed to the other main political blocks, and if and how they changed over two decades. The research aims to contribute to the study of parties as well as on the general structure of political competition in CEE, covering six Central and Eastern European countries that have joined the EU between 2004 and 2007, from the democratic transition up to 2014.
Building on recent works, we focuses on a mid-range comparison of electoral volatility, (intra)bloc fragmentation as well as the impact of governmental participation, which are considered among the main variables to assess whether there are differences among blocks and/or recurring trends within the systems. This is done by looking either at party level and at aggregate blocs.
