What’s the Right Kick-Off to a Good Finish? Polish Political Parties and Their Strategies in the 2014 European Parliament Elections

Abstract

Today, dubbing European Parliament (EP) elections as ‘second-order’ is something of a truism, since such a conclusion has already been expressed by numerous authors, with regard to both national-level rivalries and the entire European electoral market.1 EP elections are considered to be of secondary importance by both politicians and citizens: recent research by the Public Opinion Research Centre (CBOS), revealed that approximately 60 % of Poles are convinced that European elections are largely insignificant.2 This opinion is reflected in turnout rates, which are consistently lower than in the case of national parliamentary elections. As for political actors, their low regard for EP elections translates into less intense campaigns. Moreover, despite the fact these elections concern a European-level body, parties tend to focus their agendas on national politics.