Prima Facie The Spitzenkandidaten Election Model Is Not...

Prima Facie the Spitzenkandidaten election model is directly democratic, however, in practice this system is not without flaws. Electoral participation remained at record low levels when it was first introduced in 2009 and the following elections of 2014, at 43%. This low voter turnout illustrates that those who believed that Spitzenkandidaten would increase public interest and promote a pan-European debate about the future of the EU were clearly mistaken. The effectiveness of this voting system is much debated. From, aggregate election results it is clear that, such a system of voting continues to be akin to second order theory for two reasons. Firstly, low voter turnout exemplifies that citizens are disillusioned by politics at a European level and hence true voting patterns are skewed, as it is more likely for citizens with vested interests to vote at a European level. This has the adverse effect on European Integration through paving the way for Eurosceptic parties into the EP, whose representation is considerable in the current parliamentary formation. This is exemplified by the fact that the success of Eurosceptic parties was interdependent on the suffering of governing parties. For example the conservatives coupled with the liberal democrats in the UK lost 30%age points since the general election of 2010. The two Dutch governing parties suffered the same losses as compared to the 2012 Dutch general election. Finally, the governing parties of France and Spain lost