4
Indeed, there has been a growing electoral pattern for the ERPs in local and
national elections in Western Europe. Their number in national parliaments and the
European Parliament increased from 6 in the early 1980s to 15 in the mid-1990s (Ignazi
2003, 1). Their average vote share increased from 3.35 percent in the 1980s to 10.47
percent in the 1990s. In France, Le Pen’s National Front made its first breakthrough in
1984 European elections scoring 11 percent. Since then, its national score in
parliamentary and presidential elections increased further. In the first tour of the 2002
presidential elections, for instance, Le Pen came second after Chirac with 16.9 percent of
the national vote. In Austria, the Freedom Party (FPÖ) grew in vote share after the right-
extremist turn of the party with Jörg Haider in 1986. Its national score increased from 9.7
percent in 1986 to 26.9 percent in 1999, which led the party to become a coalition
partner. In Italy, the emergence of the National Alliance as the ‘neo-successor’ of the
neo-fascist Social Movement (MSI) and the Northern League changed the political
fortunes of the Italian extreme right. Together they received 21.9 percent in 1994 and
26.7 percent in 1996. Eventually they both became partners in Berlusconi-led
conservative government. In the Netherlands, Pim Fortuyn’s List received 17 percent of
the national vote in the year it was founded, 2002, and became a coalition partner, albeit
for a short period. In Belgium, the vote share of the Flemish Bloc increased from less
than 2 percent during the late 1970s and mid-1980s to 7.8 percent in 1995 and 11.6
percent in 2003. In Denmark, the Danish People’s Party became the third largest party
with 12 percent of the national vote in 2001. It did not become a coalition partner, but it
supported the conservative-liberal government in return for the implementation of its key
demands.
Convention