Act React Impact campaign at the European Parliament in Brussels ahead of the 2014 elections | © European Union , September 2013
The rationale
The core rationale behind the lead candidate process was to bolster EU democracy , primarily by doing two things : Firstly , by creating an electoral link between Parliament and the Commission , it would make the EU ’ s core executive more democratic . Secondly , by making executive power the prize in European elections , the lead candidates would seek to raise awareness about those elections , and thereby increase voter turnout .
The logic , based on observations from national elections , was clear : the personalisation of candidates tends to enhance electoral competition by informing and mobilising voters . This was also
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