The radical populist right in the 2019 European Parliament Elections. Differences and similarities in communication dynamics

Abstract

The 21st century has denoted an extension and reinforcement of radical right-wing populist formations in Europe. Thus, the 2019 European elections posed a challenge for the European institutions due to the rise of these formations in practically all member states. The aim of this article is to check whether the radical populist right parties follow the communicative tendency that the theory establishes for this type of formations. And if, compared to the rest of the European contenders, they have made a difference in their communicative strategy. Thanks to data from Project Platform Europe, an analysis of almost 10,000 campaign materials has been carried out. This analysis leads us to be able to conclude that there are indeed subtle differences between the populist right-wing formations and the rest of the political parties that contested the European elections of May 2019. The analysis also leads us to establish the theoretical communicative guidelines that have been perfectly fulfilled and that what it denotes is an Americanization (with an evident presidentialization of politics in the figure of the leader) and polarization of the electoral campaign.