Political Leadership and European Elections: The Case of the 2024 Elections
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21308/recp.69.01Keywords:
political leadership, personalisation, European elections, electoral behaviour, emerging parties, SpainAbstract
This article examines the role of political leadership in the 2024 European Parliament elections in Spain, within a context in which these contests continue to be regarded as “second-order elections.” The study pursues three main objectives: to analyse the sociodemographic and attitudinal profiles of voters who recognize the main candidates; to assess the effect of candidate evaluations on the probability of voting for the major national parties; and to explore the factors that account for support for the emerging electoral group Se Acabó la Fiesta (SALF). A quantitative methodology is employed, based on CIS microdata, using logistic regression models to analyse the influence of leadership on vote choice. The findings indicate that both candidate recognition and evaluation are key variables in electoral mobilization, even in elections typically characterized by low engagement. Positive assessments of a party's own candidate, and negative evaluations of rivals, have a significant impact on vote choice. Furthermore, the analysis confirms that the SALF electorate differs from that of Vox, being younger, predominantly male, and more politically disaffected.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Antonio Garrido Rubia, M. Antonia Martínez Rodr´iguez, Alberto Mora-Rodríguez
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