Entre el primer y el segundo orden: ¿qué lugar para las elecciones municipales de 2007?

Abstract

On May 2007 there was held the eight democratic local elections in Spain. Considering the significative importance acquired by these types of elections in all democratic systems, the aim of this article is identify its main characteristics, in order to explore the relations between parliamentary and local elections in Spain. We would tests the nature of local elections called second-order national elections. In fact, the results of second-order elections are often interpreted as an indication of the current balance between national political forces. Because this, some voters may choose to give observers a signal of their current national concerns, rather than cast a vote based upon consideration of the issues facing the second-order arena. That can led to lower the level of participation; brighter prospects for small and new political parties, and finally, losses for government parties. We ask whether the local elections can be better understood as national, rather than local, contests. It deals with some attempts to explain some systematic differences between behavior at different types of elections in the same political system.