2019 EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ELECTION IN VISEGRAD COUNTRIES: POPULISTS IN RETREAT?
Keywords:
election, European parliament, Visegrad group, populism, political partiesAbstract
For several years now, the wave of populism has swept across Europe. The collapse of traditional party competition of left and right, caused primarily by the prolonged economic crisis, has significantly contributed to the rise of populist parties and movements. Although this phenomenon is not unique to Eastern Europe, continuous electoral success of populist parties and their involvement in governments has become a trend in this part of the world. Since these parties share the Eurosceptic narrative, their success has also became a problem to the EU in a delicate economic and (geo)political moment. Therefore, the victory of liberal pro-European candidate Zuzana Caputova in the Slovak presidential election earlier this year was received with enthusiasm: as a signal that populism in these countries is finally in retreat and that, perhaps already at the European election in late May, populist parties will suffer if not defeat, then at least a significant loss of seats. Throughout this paper, we will answer to the question whether these expectations were justified. We will analyze the trends that have led to the rise of populism in four countries of Central Europe and in that context, the results of 2019 European Parliament election.
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