MCC Votes & Seats Podcast – Election insight
Az MCC Politikatudományi Műhelyének beszélgetéssorozatában szakértők és politikusok segítségével azt elemezzük, hogy a különböző európai országokban aktuálisan zajló parlamenti és önkormányzati választásoknak mely szereplők a valódi nyertesei és mi tekinthető igazi győzelemnek a szavazások után.
------------------------------
With the help of local guest experts, in the podcast series of the MCC Center for Political Science, we endeavor to analyze which actors are the real winners of the parliamentary elections taking place throughout Europe, and what exactly can be considered an ultimate victory after the ballot counts.
Episodes
61 episodes
Breaking the Curse? - Bulgaria’s 7th Early Parliamentary Election since 2021
In this episode, Dr. Bálint L. Tóth sits down with Dr. Katia Mihailova of the University of National and World Economy in Sofia to unpack the far-reaching implications of Bulgaria’s 19 April 2026 legislative election—an unprecedented 8th sna...
2026 Slovenian Legislative Election – Who did Europe’s Green Heart Choose?
Slovenia held a scheduled legislative election on March 22, 2026. The citizens of this small Central European country – often referred to as Europe’s Green Heart – had the chance to choose from two large and several minor parties. The election ...
Dutch Early General Election: The Race of the Smallest “Big Parties”
For the first time in decades, the Netherlands faces a virtual tie at the top: the social-liberal Democrats 66 and the right-wing populist Party for Freedom are both projected to secure 26 mandates each in the House of Representatives. It’s the...
Babiš Is Back: What Czechia’s 2025 Legislative Election Reveals
Former PM Andrej Babiš’s ANO emerged as the largest party in the Czech Parliament’s Lower House, marking a major comeback with strong electoral support. According to political scientist Ladislav Cabada, a key factor in the victory was that Babi...
2025 Moldovan Parliamentary Election – Staying on the Path to EU Membership
A scheduled parliamentary election was held in Moldova on September 28, 2025, a political event closely followed by the international press and western political leaders. Indeed, the stakes were high, centered around the country's future path t...
The Labour Holds On, the Opposition Field Transforms: Norway’s 2025 Legislative Election
The episode analyzes Norway's September 2025 parliamentary election with expert Dr. Herman Smith-Sivertsen. The Labor Party won 28% of votes, securing government leadership in a minority. The Conservatives dropped to third place, while the cons...
2025 Polish Presidential Election – A Referendum on the Tusk Cabinet?
The second round of the Polish presidential election was held on 1 June 2025 with Rafał Trzaskowski and Karol Nawrocki as the two leading candidates standing after the first round. The head-to-head battle resulted in the narrow victory of the P...
2025 Portuguese Snap Legislative Election – Falling into the Same Trap?
Portuguese politics has gone through a turbulent period recently, the latest development being a snap legislative election held on 18 May 2025, the third one in a row in the past three years. Therefore, we have good reason to believe that gover...
Mathematician vs. Football Hooligan: The clash of Centrism and Nationalism in the Romanian Presidential Election's Rerun
In May 2025, the presidential election in Romania, which was annulled last December, was repeated amid considerable social and political tensions. Mathematician and independent Bucharest mayor Nicușor Dan faced former football hooligan George S...
Special Edition: By divine inspiration - Election in the Holy See
Chosen by God, elected by the cardinalsIn May 2025, the Conclave has elected the American Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as the 267th Bishop of Rome, the new pope of the Roman Catholic Church, and the head of Vatican City State, the Hol...
2025 German Snap Federal Election – Gone with the Wind (of Change)?
Following the collapse of the so-called “traffic light” coalition in late 2024, a snap federal election was held in Germany on 23 February 2025, 7 months before the “ordinary” one scheduled for late September. In the campaign, the economic situ...
On the Crossroads at the Heart of the Balkans: Legislative Election in Kosovo
The first episode of the Votes & Seats podcast’s 5th season flies us to the heart of the Balkans. Thanks to the most valuable professional insights from Mr. Mehdi Sejdiu, we were lucky to have the bigger picture about the background, the ci...
2024 Romanian legislative election – What happened in the shadow of the turbulent presidential election?
A scheduled Romanian legislative election was held on 1 December 2024, between, now we can say, the planned two rounds of the presidential election. Following the decision of the Constitutional Court annulling the result of the first round, man...
Different Pictures of the Same Reality – Georgia after the 2024 Parliamentary Election
The ruling Georgian Dream party declared its victory, while the four main opposition alliances won’t accept the results published by the Central Election Commission. Anti-government political actors claimed the election was "rigged," and so the...
“A Tough Lesson” – Moldova after the 2024 Presidential Election and EU Referendum
This time, we analyze the October 2024 presidential election and EU membership referendum that were held in Moldova on the same day.Mr. Nicolae Panfil from Promo-LEX claims that the referendum turned out to be a “double-edged sword” in t...
Consensus and Beyond: Understanding the Changes in Lithuanian Politics After the 2024 Elections
The oldest political player in Lithuania, the Social Democratic Party (LSDP) won the October 2024 parliamentary election securing 19% of the vote. On the other hand, the largest party in the outgoing center-right coalition, the Homeland Union (...
One More Round for Everyone: Status Report from Bulgaria after the 6th Early Election
Our podcast series goes on with the 7th episode of its ‘Bulgaria spin-off.’ This time, it was Dr. Mariyan K. Sabev from the Center for the Study of Democracy to give us insights into the ever-lasting Bulgarian political saga.As the exper...
The End of an Era? Lessons Learned from the 2024 Austrian Legislative Election
The conservatives and the social democrats were in charge for 80 years, maybe now it’s time for something new – says Dr. Ralph Schölhammer, assistant professor of International Relations at Webster Vienna Private University.On 29 Septemb...
2024 French Snap Legislative Election – The Classical Cordon Sanitaire in Operation
On the eve of the European Parliament election of 9 June 2024, French president Emmanuel Macron announced the dissolution of the National Assembly and appointed 30 June and 7 July as the days of a snap legislative election. In the first round o...
2024 United Kingdom General Election – What’s Next After Labour’s Landslide Victory?
It is not an exaggeration to say that 2024 is a year of elections around the world, including Europe where citizens have already voted or will vote in different elections in 30 EU or non-EU countries (excluding the EP election). The United ...
A Republic in Crisis: The French Elections
The first round of the French elections delivered a powerful victory to Marine Le Pen and a humiliating defeat for French President Emmanual Macron. With another round of elections on July 7th, however, the actual outcome of the election still ...
Lost in the Maze of Ballot Papers? – The 2024 Belgian Federal Election
2024 is an exciting year in European politics not only because of the European Parliament (EP) election but also a number of national elections already or to be held this year across the member states. The Belgian federal election is definitely...
The Silence of Voters: Lessons Learnt from the 5th Consecutive Early Legislative Election in Bulgaria
Talking about the constant political crisis, our guest commentator, Dr. Katia Mihailova from the University of National and World Economy lays it down to us that Bulgaria needs new ethics to overcome the 4 year-long political agony in the count...
The 2024 EP Election - A shift to the right – but what will it be enough for?
After 5 years, the EU citizens had the chance again to express their political preferences in the recent European Parliament (EP) election, held across the member states between 6–9 June 2024. Although the voting took the form of 27 different n...
Parliamentary and Presidential elections in North Macedonia, 2024
This time, we dive into the depth of Macedonian politics on the occasion of the recent presidential and legislative elections that were held in the country on the 8th of May 2024.Dr. Marko Troshanovski, president of the Skopje-based thin...
