Elections and Parties in New European Democracies

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union near the end of the Twentieth Century, the former satellite nations in East Europe have moved toward the democratic process of free and fair elections. Now two prominent election experts have set out in one book all the basic information - text and tabular - that scholars and students of elections would want to know about free elections in post-Communist Europe since 1990. In Elections & Parties in New European Democracies, Professors Richard Rose and Neil Munro provide an overview and systematic comparison of electoral systems, parties, and voting in eleven countries including comparisons with established democracies such as the United States and Britain. In addition to chapters explaining and analyzing recent elections, the authors provide a country-by-country set of tables with a full list of all party names and acronyms in English and the national language; vote and seat totals; and details of the electoral system; and, where appropriate, a brief reference to elections in the pre-Communist era. Their examination includes basic socio-demographic data, such as population and standard of living, as well as examinations about the degree of freedom and fairness in each political system. The eleven countries in the book are: Russia plus the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Romania, the ten countries now seeking admission to the European Union. Contests include national parliamentary elections and presidential ballots where the president is directly elected. For their data the authors draw on election results from official and definitive sources in eleven different languages, and nationwide sample surveys of voters in all eleven countries.