Multi-level parties? Strategies for the 2014 all-tier elections in Sweden

In 2014, Sweden will for the first time since entering the European Union have elections to all four political tiers the same year, in fact, just a few months’ apart. The election to the European Parliament will take place 25 May, whereas 14 September is the day for the election to the other three political levels (the national parliament, the regional assemblies and the local assemblies). This paper will analyse how the Swedish political parties’ élites prepare for this up-coming ‘super election year’ in terms of strategies, as well as how such strategies (or lack thereof) are perceived and interpreted by local and regional political representatives.

Party strategies are likely to vary in accordance with the parties’ different ideological foundations and existing pro- or against European integration stances (Hooghe & Marks 2009). However, theoretical understandings of European parliament elections as ‘second order national elections’ (Reif & Schmitt 1980; Hix & Marsh 2010) or varied amount of nationalisation effects of concurrent elections (Dandoy & Schakel 2013) give way for a possible broader variation of strategies, e.g. vertical coordination across political levels, treating the European parliament election merely as a rehearsal, or to focus on different political issues for the elections to the different assemblies. The reactions to these party élite strategies among local and regional political representatives may also vary, and thus affect the campaigning. The paper will be based on interviews with party élite representatives at national, regional and local levels.