many and France , were preferred campaign locations because of their larger populations , which translated into more seats in the European Parliament . Consequently , Germany and France emerged as the most appealing countries for campaign activities .
It is clear that exposure to information on EU politics , the European elections and the lead candidate process is crucial to ‘ enable citizens to formulate a preference for the Spitzenkandidaten ’ 5 . However , while the overall coverage of the elections was ‘ adequate ’, media interest in providing information about the lead candidates was low and did not produce any mobilisation effect . This was the second reason behind the lack of impact .
Exposure to ( televised ) debates between the candidates resulted in heightened cognitive and political engagement and increased support for the EU among young citizens . However , unfortunately , the debates reached only a limited audience .
Thirdly , it was problematic that national parties did not pay much attention to the lead candidate process and did not explain it sufficiently to their voters 6 . Starting the process without the necessary buy-in from national parties limited the impact .
Overall , the pre-electoral debates did not result in ‘ increased party-political competition or a real choice between rival political
5 . K . Gattermann , C . De Vreese & W . Van der Brug , Evaluations of the Spitzenkandidaten : The role of information and news exposure in citizens ’ preference formation , Politics and Governance , 4 ( 1 ), 2016 , p . 37 .
6 . D . Braun & S . A . Popa , S . A . This time it was different ? The salience of the Spitzenkandidaten system among European parties , West European Politics , 41 ( 5 ), 2018 , pp . 1125-1145 . For a very detailed account of the political happenings in the run-up to the elections ( the nomination procedures of the European parties , their nominees as well as their campaigns ) and the preceding negotiations , see N . Peñalver García & J . Priestley , The making of a European president . Palgrave Macmillan , London , 2015
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