Tempus rerum imperator: The timing of elections and its effect on the levels of turnout in European Parliament elections

Institutional variables are generally assumed to be among the most important factors that affect variations in electoral participation. In Europe, the multiplication of electoral contests makes the timing of elections a decisive issue given the general decreasing participatory trend. Turnout is generally expected to be higher in simultaneous elections while, due to “voters’ fatigue”, it can be reduced if several elections are held over a short period of time. What remains underexplored is the extent to which this applies to different types of elections. In this paper, we argue that temporal effects are especially crucial for EP elections due to their second-order nature. We test these effects at the aggregate level through a cross-time longitudinal analysis of EP elections turnout of all EP elections having taken place since 1979 and across all member states. Adding to the existing literature, we explore the interplay between time effects and participation at the European level. The paper also controls for macro-level determinants as well as attitudinal factors. Our paper thus contributes to assessing whether institutional redesigning efforts both at national and EU level could result in higher electoral turnout.