Newcomers in politics? The success of new political parties in the Slovak and Czech Republic after 2010?

Abstract

The last election in the Slovak and Czech Republic was special. It not only took place before the official electoral period (pre-elections), but new political parties were “again” successful. The article focuses not only on both elections in the last two years in a comparative perspective, but it analyses the opportunity structure of success as well, including types of new political parties (according to Lucardie). The article seeks to answer the question: why are new political parties electorally successful, able to break into parliament and even become part of a coalition government? We assume that the emergence and success of new political parties in both countries relied on the ability to promote “old” ideas in a new fashion, colloquially referred to as “new suits” or “old” ideological flows in new breeze.