Contestation in multi-level party systems with institutional constraints: A look at ethnically divided countries in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

Contestation is one of the main dimensions of democratic representation. Mainly, research has focused on contestation at the national level, however the concept equally applies for regional and for local politics. This paper discusses the effect of restrictive national-level institutions on political plurality in elections at the subnational level. Its argument is two-fold; firstly, the effect of restrictive political institutions spans over different levels of elections, and therefore restrictive national institutions also restrict political competition in subnational elections. This effect might hamper political contestation at the local and regional level if restrictive national institutions meet territorially structured political conflicts. Secondly, where free and politically relevant elections are fought, there is a genuine need for political contestation. Where the multi-level logic of party systems restricts party plurality at the local or regional level, non-partisan candidates and groups will emerge. Hypotheses are tested, looking at the political representation and plurality of representation in minority regions in Central and Eastern Europe, investigating ethnic minorities in Romania, Slovakia, Moldova, and Macedonia. The effect of national electoral laws in these countries allows for substantial variation in its degree of restrictiveness