Economic factors determining the electoral success of far-right and far-left parties in the EU countries

Abstract

The recent electoral success of far-right and far-left parties is often considered to be a side-effect of the economic crisis. This article aims to determine the degree to which the downturn in economic performance helped to increase the vote share of these parties. The research includes a set of 23 EU member states from the period 1995 to 2012, and finds that poor economic performance significantly determined the vote share of the far-left. Among the indicators influencing the far-left electorate were mainly changes in the GDP and unemployment rate. The research does not find any correlation between the far-rights vote share and the development of macroeconomic indicators.