The institutional approach to an uneven variation of turnout differences : A regression analysis on turnout differences between a European election and national parliamentary elections

Abstract: This essay examines to what extent institutional factors can explain the variation among EU-countries regarding the differences between their turnout in the 2014 European election and their latest national parliamentary elections. On different levels, the countries of the European Union tend to have smaller turnouts in the European elections than in their national parliamentary election. Can separate formal political institutions on a system level among member countries of the European Union explain the variation of turnout differences in elections to the European parliament and national general elections?  Through a regression analysis the study is testing theories based on what fields that are investigated in related studies. Hypothesises are created from each theory to reach a conclusion. The result proves that only compulsory voting, by itself and interacting with other variables, along with the difference between the number of parties in a country’s representation in the European parliament and its national parliament, interacting with other variables, decreases this variation. All the other theories are falsified to the due to insignificance. It is not possible to say that institutional factors in general give an explanation to the variation among EU-countries regarding the differences between their turnout in the 2014 European election and their latest national parliamentary elections.