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Pasokification
Pasokification is the decline of centre-left, social-democratic political parties in European and other Western countries during the 2010s, often accompanied by the rise of nationalist, left-wing and right-wing populist alternatives. In Europe, the share of votes for centre-left parties was at its 70-year lowest in 2015.
The term originates from the Greek party PASOK, which saw a declining share of the vote in national elections — from 43.9% in 2009 to 13.2% in May 2012, to 12.3% in June 2012 and 4.7% in 2015 — due to its perceived poor handling of the Greek government-debt crisis and implementation of harsh austerity measures. Simultaneously, the left-wing anti-austerity Syriza party saw a growth in vote share and influence. Since PASOK's decline, the term has been applied to similar declines for other social-democratic and Third Way parties.
In the early 2020s, the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Australian Labor Party and UK Labour Party won elections in each of their countries in 2021, 2022 and 2024 respectively. Additionally, PASOK-KINAL improved their performance in the 2023 Greek elections. This has resulted in discussions on the possibility of "de-Pasokification", "reverse Pasokification", or "Kinalification."[needs update]
The Social Democratic Party of Austria lost 5.7 percentage points in the 2019 Austrian legislative election, resulting in a share of 21.2%, the party's worst election result since World War II. In the same election, the conservative Austrian People's Party gained 6 percentage points, with a share of 37.5%, its best since 2002.
The 2024 Austrian legislative election saw the far-right FPÖ placing first, winning 28.8% of the vote and achieving its best result in the party's history. The governing ÖVP lost 19 seats, while its coalition partner, the Greens, lost 10 seats. The centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) won just 21.1%, marking its worst result ever in the National Council. The NEOS improved from 2019, rising from 15 to 18 seats.
The Bulgarian Socialist Party lost 12.2 percentage points and fell from 80 to 43 seats in the April 2021 Bulgarian parliamentary election. In the July 2021 Bulgarian parliamentary election the party lost another 1.6 percentage points, returning to parliament with just 36 seats. In the November 2021 Bulgarian general election, the BSP lost a further 3.27 percentage points and returned to parliament with 26 seats, their worst result since democratic reforms; however, the party joined the new coalition government.
The Social Democratic Party of Croatia had in the 2019 European Parliament election (18.7%) their worst EP election result, in the 2020 parliamentary election (24.9%) their worst parliamentary election result since 2003 and in the first round of the 2019–20 presidential election they had their worst result since 2000 but in the end they won the second round.
The Czech Social Democratic Party lost much of its support in the 2017 Czech legislative election, falling from 50 in the previous general election to just 15 seats out of 200. They did even worse in 2021, with its vote share falling below the 5% threshold required for representation in the legislature. KSČM also fell below the threshold in 2021. Meanwhile, ANO 2011 gained 31 seats, and the Civic Democratic Party gained 9 seats in 2017.
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Pasokification
Pasokification is the decline of centre-left, social-democratic political parties in European and other Western countries during the 2010s, often accompanied by the rise of nationalist, left-wing and right-wing populist alternatives. In Europe, the share of votes for centre-left parties was at its 70-year lowest in 2015.
The term originates from the Greek party PASOK, which saw a declining share of the vote in national elections — from 43.9% in 2009 to 13.2% in May 2012, to 12.3% in June 2012 and 4.7% in 2015 — due to its perceived poor handling of the Greek government-debt crisis and implementation of harsh austerity measures. Simultaneously, the left-wing anti-austerity Syriza party saw a growth in vote share and influence. Since PASOK's decline, the term has been applied to similar declines for other social-democratic and Third Way parties.
In the early 2020s, the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Australian Labor Party and UK Labour Party won elections in each of their countries in 2021, 2022 and 2024 respectively. Additionally, PASOK-KINAL improved their performance in the 2023 Greek elections. This has resulted in discussions on the possibility of "de-Pasokification", "reverse Pasokification", or "Kinalification."[needs update]
The Social Democratic Party of Austria lost 5.7 percentage points in the 2019 Austrian legislative election, resulting in a share of 21.2%, the party's worst election result since World War II. In the same election, the conservative Austrian People's Party gained 6 percentage points, with a share of 37.5%, its best since 2002.
The 2024 Austrian legislative election saw the far-right FPÖ placing first, winning 28.8% of the vote and achieving its best result in the party's history. The governing ÖVP lost 19 seats, while its coalition partner, the Greens, lost 10 seats. The centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) won just 21.1%, marking its worst result ever in the National Council. The NEOS improved from 2019, rising from 15 to 18 seats.
The Bulgarian Socialist Party lost 12.2 percentage points and fell from 80 to 43 seats in the April 2021 Bulgarian parliamentary election. In the July 2021 Bulgarian parliamentary election the party lost another 1.6 percentage points, returning to parliament with just 36 seats. In the November 2021 Bulgarian general election, the BSP lost a further 3.27 percentage points and returned to parliament with 26 seats, their worst result since democratic reforms; however, the party joined the new coalition government.
The Social Democratic Party of Croatia had in the 2019 European Parliament election (18.7%) their worst EP election result, in the 2020 parliamentary election (24.9%) their worst parliamentary election result since 2003 and in the first round of the 2019–20 presidential election they had their worst result since 2000 but in the end they won the second round.
The Czech Social Democratic Party lost much of its support in the 2017 Czech legislative election, falling from 50 in the previous general election to just 15 seats out of 200. They did even worse in 2021, with its vote share falling below the 5% threshold required for representation in the legislature. KSČM also fell below the threshold in 2021. Meanwhile, ANO 2011 gained 31 seats, and the Civic Democratic Party gained 9 seats in 2017.