When a First‐ and Second‐Order Election Collide: The 2019 Danish Election to the European Parliament

Since 1979 elections to the European Parliament (EP) have been held on a fixed set of days every fifth year all over the European Community/European Union (EU) (Jensen 2015). In Denmark, the most recent EP election took place on 26 May 2019. However, compared to previous EP elections in Denmark, this election was different. The term of the national parliament approached its end, and the then Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen decided on 7 May 2019 – in the midst of the election campaign for the EP – to call for a national election to be held on 5 June 2019. Thus, the campaigns of the EP and national parliament overlapped for 19 days. This contribution examines the Danish EP election with special emphasis on the interaction effect of the partially concurrent national election. It shows that the national election indeed overshadowed the EP election but may well have helped to increase turnout at the latter.