One of the most important event of the 2024 super election year was the elections of the European Parliament – which took place from June 6 to 9 – because the European Union has reached a turning point. Classified as a second order election, it has taken on a new significance in the light of the current global political events, of the geopolitical, social, and political situation, as well as of the crisis resulting from the pandemic, wars, and migration towards Europe. All of this raises several questions: What characteristics possess the tenth EP election under these new circumstances? In case the EP election starts showing new features, one may ask whether it can be described in terms of the second order characteristics. Further: how have the changes under these circumstances affected the nature of the election, the participation, the electoral results, and the performance of major and minor parties, as well as the ruling parties? To what extent can secondariness of the EP elections still be considered evident?
The situation is further complicated by the fact that this was the first election held after Brexit, which not only influenced the number of seats in the European Parliament and their distribution among countries, but also affected the electoral process as well as the composition of the parliamentary seating arrangements.