Representation of Women in Second-order Elections: The Czech Republic and Slovakia Compared

Abstract

Elections to the European Parliament (EP) fall into the category of second-order national elections. In these types of elections voters behave differently when casting their vote. But what about political parties: do they behave differently in EP elections than in national parliamentary elections? This article draws on available electoral data related to women's representation in the Czech Republic and Slovakia to explicitly link the second-order election (SOE) model to independent actions of political parties. The results show that women candidates have (1) more positions and better ranking on ballot lists; as well as (2) better chances of getting elected when running in SOEs in Slovakia but not in the Czech Republic. In order to explain this variance in results, the most similar system design (MSSD) was applied. The findings from the MSSD indicate that three variables have the potential to explain this variance in representation of women in EP elections between the countries: parties’ positions on European integration dimension, the numerical size of national legislature, and preferential voting. The variable parties’ positions on European integration have the highest explanatory power.