Domineren Brussel en Den Haag ook de Dorpsstraat? Nationale en lokale determinanten van het succes van nationale partijen bij de Nederlandse en Vlaamse gemeenteraadsverkiezingen

Abstract

This article investigates to what extent national and/or local factors do influence the performance of national parties in the most recent Flemish and Dutch municipal elections of, respectively, 2012 and 2014. Our analyses underscore the impact of local factors on the municipal election results, both in Flanders and in the Netherlands. The number of parties and previous election results do have a negative effect on the vote share of national political parties. Contrary to the expectations, participation in local government does not have any influence on the national lists’ elections results. Although local factors have to be taken into account to get a better estimation of the performance of national lists in municipal elections, national factors do have significant effects as well. Parties doing well at the national elections, are less successful at the local level.