The Danish Euro‐Party System*

In direct elections to the European Parliament, the behaviour of the Danish electorate, unlike that of other member countries of the EC, deviates strongly from the usual party pattern of national, general elections, thus producing a very differently structured Euro‐party system. The existence of this distinct Euro‐party system has been confirmed in the two consecutive Euro‐elections of 1979 and 1984. This article analyses the special electoral behaviour of the Danish voters in Euro‐elections. The deviation is explained primarily by the presence of a European cleavage in the Danish electorate which partly counteracts normal party identification. While supporters of Danish membership of EC vote just as they do in national, general elections, opponents of EC behave in a very different way. The voting in Euro‐elections has become a mixture of election and referendum behaviour.